
Class 
Book- 



ynK^.^.^r-rx^ 



THE 



ol rJHiNUirLJL, 



SECTIONAL EQUILIBRIUM: 



HOW IT WAS CREATED HOW DESTROYED HOW IT 

MAY BE RESTORED. 



By "BARBAROSSA." 






^ - - r^ fyi*-^\ 



"And therefore it is ever good to relie upon the books at large, for many times 
compendia sunt despcndia and melius est petere fontes, quam sectari 7-ivulos." 

[Coke — Littleton'. 



RICHMOND, Va. 
JAMES WOODHOUSE & CO. 

1860. 






Entered according to act of Congress, in the year 1860, 

By JAMES WOODIIOUSE & CO. 

In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States, 
for the Eastern District of Virginia. 

C. H. WYNNE, PRINTER. 

/// 



DEDICATION. 



I wish to dedicate this little volume to the memory of 
the Hon. John Macpherson Berrien, late Senator in Con- 
gress from the State of Georgia ; not for his eminent 
abilities, his private Avorth, nor yet for his great public 
character, but as an humble tribute of gratitude for an 
important service which he rendered to me. 

It chanced some years ago that I was introduced to 
that distinguished statesman at one of the public tables in 
Washington city. The conversation turned on the question 
of slavery, then vexing Congress, and in terms stronger 
than good manners would warrant, I expressed my aversion 
to that form of labor. The sentiment which I uttered 
elicited no response, and the conversation glided on to other 
topics. When I was about to depart. Judge Berrien, in the 
most polite and obliging manner, invited me to remain and 
take wine with him, an invitation which I gladly accepted, 
for already I felt strongly attracted to him. 

With some abruptness, he turned to me and expressed his 
surprise that I, a young man from Virginia, should enter- 
tain sentiments of so remarkable a character about slavery. 
I attempted to defend them, and he listened to me with re- 
spectful attention. In the ablest manner, the Senator then 
explained the whole subject to me, in its social, political and 
economical connexions, and after illustrating its conservative 
and ameliorating influences on the Federal Government, de- 



IV DEDICATION. 

monstrated its absolute necessity, in a democratic society, to 
preserve the empire of law, of virtue and of religion, and 
predicted that for the "want of that restraining poAver the 
Northern Republics, so soon as they should be disconnected 
"with the Slave States, even if not sooner, would fall into 
anarchy, and, treading the old circle, would, to escape the 
despotism of the mob, seek refuge in the despotism of a 
single will. 

His discourse produced on me the most profound im- 
pression ; and when I arose to withdraw, I grasped his 
hand cordially and thanked him for redeeming me from 
so weak and dangerous an error. I had never seen Judge 
Berrien before ; I never saw him again. A few years 
later I heard that the Hunter Death had struck him down, 
and sure he never struck a nobler quarry. 

Barbarossa. 



TO THE 



YOUNG MEN OF THE SLAVE-HOLDING SECTION. 



I presume to address this publication to you, though it 
is not without trepidation that I appeal to so intelligent a 
tribunal. It broaches a new theory of the Constitution. 
If it shall be considered well founded, upon your courage 
and intelligence must the Southern people rely for its vin- 
dication ; but if it shall be deemed fanciful and pleasing 
from its novelty, rather than valuable for its truth, my 
apology is a conviction of its importance to the South, and 
that here in Virginia, we all have a proclivity towards poli- 
tics, and, in the words of Sir Francis Bacon, where " every 
one plays the philosopher out of the small treasury of his 
own fancy." 

But let it be remembered that youth is not always de- 
termined by the period of life. There are old young men, 
whilst there are those who like Hecla wear crowns of snow, 
and yet like Hecla have souls of flame. 

Respectfully, 

Barbarossa. 



PREFACE. 



Soon after its establishment, by Mr. Pryor, in Richmond 
city, I communicated to The South newspaper the theory 
of an equilibrium in the Federal Constitution, -which is the 
principal subject of this volume. As far as I am informed, 
the intention on the part of its framers to introduce that 
principle, had not been suggested by any one since the 
government went into operation. Subsequent examination 
confirmed me in the belief of the sectional nature of the 
compact, and the intention of the Federal Convention to 
balance power between the North and the South. The 
means by which that end was to be achieved, together with 
the means adopted by Congress to prevent it, I thought 
worthy of a more extended investigation, and therefore have 
written this book. In the chapter which relates to the rati- 
fication of the Constitution by Virginia, several threads of 
history have been woven in, together with an enquiry into 
the cause of the decline of that Commonwealth ; and in 
this connection I beg leave to acknowledge the advantage 
that I have derived from consulting the pages of Mr. Grigs- 
by — I mean with reference to the source from which the 
bulk of the population of Virginia was derived. 

The different parts have been written at different times, 
as inclination might prompt or business allow, and are now 
hastily thrown together because of a supposed application 
of this subject to the present state of public afikirs. 



Till PREFACE. 

I •will not apologize for my subject, as though by any com- 
parison it were unimportant ; but I will confess a diffidence 
of the value added by my own handling. In the remarks on 
our own history, the order of time is neither strictly observed, 
nor greatly neglected. 

" Yet it is designed, slight and imperfect as it is, for the 
service of Truth, by one who would be glad to attend and 
grace he?' triumphs ; as her soldier, if he has had the honor 
to serve successfully under her banner; or as a captive tied 
to her chariot wheels, if he has, though undesignedly, com- 
mitted any oifence against her." 

February 25, 1860. 



»• 



THE SECTIONAL EQUILIBRIUM. 



PART I. 



CHAPTER I. 

"When a broad table is to be made and the edges of the planks do not fit, the artist takes 
a little from both and makes a good joint. In like manner, here, both sides must part 
with some of their demands. — Dr. Franklin. 

In the Constitutional Convention of 1829, "Watkins Leigh 
said : " The Federal Convention of 1787 had, for the first 
time, to arrange a representation of the people in Congress. 
What was the origin of the Federal number I do not cer- 
tainly know. I have had recourse, in vain, to every source of 
information accessible to ascertain how that precise proportion 
of slaves — three-fifths — caine to be adopted, ivhat mode or 
principle of estimate led to it. Some reason there must have 
been.'' 

It is my purpose, in the following pages, to solve this ques- 
tion of constitutional history — to ascertain the reason that ope- 
rated on the Convention which constructed the government 
under which we live, to adopt in the popular basis the 
fractional representation which was awarded to the servile 
population of the South. The Report of " The Debates 
of the Convention of 1787," by Mr. Madison, enables me to 
do this. It is the only source from which that information can 
be derived, for the fragment of those proceedings preserved by 
Judge Yates, aflfords no clue whatever to the solution of this 



10 THE SECTIONAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

interesting problem. "The Debates," in 1829, were not pub- 
lished, but slept in manuscript, at Montpelier, until the death 
of Mr. Madison broke the seal. 

This' part of the organic law has excited but little curiosity, 
and yet it is the ground-work of the political edifice, with refer- 
ence to which every other part was made. A just understand- 
ing of this part of the Constitution will furnish, if I mistake 
not, an explanation of many of those questions that have con- 
vulsed the North and South, and will supply us with the means 
of ascertaining how far we have departed from the true mean- 
ing of that instrument — how far the ship of State has drifted 
from the intended course. 

Mr. Madison was himself a member of the Convention of 
1829, and heard the enquiry of Mr. Leigh, but said nothing. 
Why he stood mute on that occasion, when a true account of 
the fractional basis would have added strength to the side 
which he himself advocated, I know not. Let those who 
reverence the character and eulogize the memory of Madison 
divine his motives. His explanation of that fundamental 
part of the federal charter, might not have accorded well with 
his declared opinions in federal politics, and it is possible that 
he shrunk from the keen and searching analysis of the power- 
ful minds that illustrated that assemblage. 

The Constitution of the United States is generally under- 
stood to be a compact to which the several States are parties; 
and hence, that all the rights which it provides are State rights, 
and the remedies for the violation of those rights. State reme- 
dies. In consequence of this view of the Constitution, State 
secession and State interposition have been suggested as the 
modes of redress in the several cases to which they apply. 
But I shall attempt to prove, by authentic evidence, that this 
is not true in the exclusive sense in which it has been stated. 

The Constitution is, indeed, a compact between States, but 
it is also a compact between the slaveholding and non-slave- 
holding sections ; and those sections are susceptible of obliga- 
tions and injuries. This is not the least interesting light in 



HOW IT WAS CREATED. 11 

which the Constitution presents itself, and thus viewed is a 
Great Treaty between two nations of opposite civilizations, and, 
in many respects, opposite interests, making the federal sys- 
tem even more complex than it has been generally supposed 
to be. 

The true character of the Constitution, and the government 
"which has grown out of it, is illustrated by the political par- 
ties which have arisen under it. At first, a consolidating ten- 
dency threatened to absorb the States. This produced the 
State Rights party — a school founded by Jefferson and Madi- 
son, and afterwards sustained by a succession of great men, of 
whom Calhoun was the most illustrious. Calhoun devoted the 
energies of his wonderful intellect to developing this theory 
of the Constitution. Perceivino- that the congressional or 
departmental checks were of a subordinate character, and did 
not operate to restrain the ruling power of the Constitution, 
he attempted to eliminate from the government a veto power in 
the hands of the States, which he denominated an Equilibrium, 
but so denominated for no better reason, as I conceive, than 
that its originator would have employed it as an imperfect sub- 
stitute for that wise and healing principle. 

An Equilibrium, properly so called, enters into the govern- 
ment and is its living principle. It is ever present ; it assists 
in the deliberations of the Legislature and partakes of the 
enactment of laws ; it moderates the Judicial power, and in 
the execution of the laws tempers the Executive. But the 
States, acting as Tribunes, as they have been called from their 
fancied resemblance to that Roman ofiScei', are not present in 
the legislative chambers to arrest the passage of bills, but are 
to be invoked to unravel that which has been woven, to repeal 
that which has been enacted, to undo that which has been 
done, and that only within the narrow limits of a State juris- 
diction, and in ease of a deliberate, palpable and dangerous 
exercise of poioers, not granted by the Constitution. But the 
Equilibrium is confined by no bounds to its discretion, nor even 
to cases where the Constitution is supposed to be infracted, 



12 THE SECTIONAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

but decides upon the equity and policy as -well as the constitu- 
tionality of political action, and is omnipotent to repress 
corruptions and prevent extravagant expenditures of public 
money- 

But, since the death of Mr. Calhoun, and even a little 
before, parties have undergone a remarkable change. They 
are now drawn up on the sectional line. They are no longer 
characterized by old names. Those distinctions have been 
blotted out, and parties now are purely geographical. So true 
is it that every government, in its development, will proclaim 
the principles upon Avhich it is founded ! A war of sections 
has begun, because the constitutional rights of the Southern sec- 
tion have been invaded. The natural expansion of the South 
has been limited by Federal law, and it is in vain that we have 
recourse to State Rights' principles for the means of redress ; 
that school of politics having been formed exclusively with 
reference to the Constitution regarded as a compact between 
States. The third of the Virginia Resolutions declares : " In 
case of a deliberate, dangerous, and palpable exercise of other 
powers not granted by the said compact, the States, ivho are 
the parties thereto, have the right, and are in duty bound, to 
interfere for arresting the progress of the evil, and for main- 
taining,' ivithin their respective limits, the authorities, rights 
and liberties appertaining to them." This is nullification. It 
is the exercise of State sovereignty within State jurisdiction, 
but it cannot move an inch beyond those consecrated limits. 
State secession is evidently derived from the same source, and 
is circumscribed by the same bounds. If the government 
attempts to collect protective duties in the port of Charleston, 
South Carolina has an unquestionable right to annul the law 
in virtue of which those duties are collected. If South Caro- 
lina should deem that Congress had committed a dangerous 
inroad on the Constitution, for which secession would furnish 
the only adequate redress, she would have, in virtue of her 
State sovereignty, the unquestionable right to withdraw from 
the political association. But if the Federal Goverment ,at- 



nO"\V IT WAS CREATED. 13 

tempts to expunge slavery from tlie District of Columbia, or 
to exclude it from Kansas, would that be an invasion of the 
sovereignty of South Carolina ? Her State remedies would 
not be co-extensive with the right. The rule of the common 
law, which ascertains the existence of a right by the existence 
of an appropriate remedy for its violation, would apply to cases 
like this. The common law has been called the perfection of 
reason, and in nothing does it appear more than in this. Any 
blow dealt at slavery by the central government, outside of 
that State, is certainly a wrong done to South Carolina, but to 
South Carolina considered as a portion of the slave section. 
The remedy, in such a case, if redress could not be obtained by 
constitutional methods, would be by the overthrow of the Gov- 
ernment, the aggressive power. By the destruction of the 
■wrong-doer the prevention of all future wrong would be 
accomplished. 

This doctrine is not only true, but wholesome. It tends to 
obliterate, wherever their common civilization is threatened, 
State lines, and to resolve the Southern States into one com- 
munity. In case of a dissolution of the Union, they would be 
held together by a common bond, and would be led to frame^ 
under better auspices, a common government. 

Mr. Calhoun discovered, before the close of his life, which 
■was snuffed out before the great drama had fully opened, that 
he should have to take broader ground and invoke other agen- 
cies than those which he had hitherto used in his contests with 
Congress. He did not resort then to the nullifying powers of 
a State, but he called upon the South to defend herself from^ 
the systematic aggressions of the North, acting through the 
government at Washington. But his constitutional creed un- 
derwent no corresponding change. 

The nature of the Constitution is imprinted on its foce, and; 
bears unmistakable traces of its two-fold origin. The States^ 
in their sovereign capacity, are represented in the Senate; for, 
wherever sovereignty exists, equality necessarily prevails. Bui 



14 THE SECTIONAL EQUILIBRIUxM. 

the sections are represented, and their existence acknowledged 
in the Electoral College, and in the constitution of the first 
branch of Congress. It will be seen, hereafter, that the Sen- 
ate was constituted on its present basis by a conflict between 
the great and small States, and that the basis upon which the 
other branch of Congress was founded was the result of a col- 
lision between the North and South, and that the differences, 
in both cases, were adjusted upon the principle of equality. 

The difference between a simple compact among the States, 
and one to which sections and States are equally parties, in 
respect to the range of powers with which it was thought 
expedient to invest government, is illustrated by the Articles 
of Confederation and that Constitution under which we live. 

In remarking upon that part of the Constitution which con- 
tains the provision for a slave representation, a recent intelli- 
gent writer says : " This was the first step, and the next was 
the formation of the present Constitution, when a contest arose 
as to the ratio of representation. Should the South have as 
many representatives, in proportion to her population, as the 
North ? It was just and right that she should. The Federal 
Government had no concern with the relations between blacks 
and whites, the different classes of her population. It had not 
the right to inquire whether the negro was a slave or free. 
The slaves were a better population thamthe free negroes, and 
if the latter were to be counted at their full number in the 
apportionment of representation, so omght the former. The 
right could not be refused, because the -slaves were naturally 
or leo^ally unequal to the whites; for so are the free negroes. 
It could not be refused, because they have no political rights ; 
for neither have the free negroes, paupers, women and chil- 
dren. They are an essential part of the population ; if absent, 
their places must be filled by other laborers, and if they are 
property as well as population, it is an additional reason for 
giving their owners the security of full representation for 
vthem. But the South, as usual, yielded to Northern exorbi- 



HOW IT WAS CREATED. 15 

tance, and agreed that five slaves should count only as three 
free negroes. Therefore, instead of 105 representatives in 
Congress, we have only 91." * 

If, indeed, the Constitution is to be regarded in the light of 
a compact between two nations, it is impossible to say that it 
was just and right that the South should have a full represen- 
tation of her slaves, without first ascertaining what effect that 
would have upon the distribution of the powers of government 
between the parties. If the effect of a full representation of 
slaves would place the government under the dominion of the 
South, the slave power, who can say that there is any principle 
of natural justice that would have required the North to agree 
to any such stipulation ? If their total or partial exclusion 
would have produced the contrary effect, and placed the South 
under the control of the free-soil power, as little could be said 
in defence of such an arrangement. Each party was entitled 
to a safe representation in the government, which could result 
alone from introducing the principle of equality in the division 
of power ; for in nature, as it is in the court of chancery, 
equality is equity. The idea that the partial exclusion of 
slaves from the representative basis was due to their moral 
and legal inferiority is wholly unfounded, as will hereafter 
be proved, although that doctrine is inculcated by the re- 
spectable authority of the Federalist. The Southern dele- 
gates in the Federal Convention will likewise, in the progress 
of this narrative, be vindicated from the insinuated charge of 
having submitted to Northern exorbitance; but the integ- 
rity of their motives will be vindicated at the expense of their 
political sagacity. 

The sectional line between the North and South was almost 
as deeply drawn in 1787, as it is at the present time. This 
will be clearly exhibited by an inspection of that part of the 
debates of the Convention now about to pass under review. It 
contradicts the notion entertained by some, that this sectional 

* The Union, Past and Future, p. 1,2. 



16 THE SECTIONAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

antagonism is of recent growth and consequently that the 
Constitution of the United States was not made with reference 
to it. The States to the northward of Virginia and Maryland 
were either already free States or were preparing to become 
so, and it was apparent to every one that they would soon con- 
summate their intention. The Northern delegates in the Con- 
vention of 1787, all acted in the free-soil interest, and the 
delegates from the South w'ere unanimous in the defence of the 
interests of slavery. To reconcile that diflference constituted 
the chief labor of the Convention. The year following, in 
the South Carolina Convention of ratification, Gen. Pinckney 
said : 

" But striking as this difference is, it is not to be compared 
to the the difference that there is between the inhabitants of 
the Northern and Southern States ; when I say Southern, I 
mean Maryland, and the States southward of her. There Ave 
may truly observe that nature has drawn as strong marks of 
distinction in the habits and manners of the people, as she has 
in her climates and productions. The Southern citizen beholds 
with a kind of surprise the simple manners of the East, and is 
too often induced to entertain undeserved opinions of the 
purity of the Quaker, while they, in their turn, seem concerned 
at what they term the extravagance and dissipation of their 
Southern friends, and reprobate, as an unpardonable moral 
and political evil, the dominion they hold over a part of the 
human race^ Elliot's Debates, vol. iv, p. 310. 

Tliis feeling, which existed to so great a degree among the 
people in the two sections, was ever showing itself in Congress 
whenever the interests or power of either was involved. The 
/ Northern members objected to the admission of Kentucky into 
the Union, the Southern States objected to the admission of 
Vermont. That fraternal love which many have supposed to 
have existed at that period betAveen the North and South, is 
purely imaginary ; instead, a strong and deep-rooted antagonism 
characterized them both. Already had any affiliation between a 
Northern member of Congress and the Southern members been 



now IT WAS CREATED. 17 

put under the ban of the North. General Sullivan thus writes 
to Washington : "The choice of minister of war was postponed 
to the first of October. This was a manoeuvre of Samuel 
Adams and others from the North, fearing that, as I was in 
nomination, the choice ivoiild fall on me, who having ajyosta- 
tized from the true New England faith, hy sometimes voting 
with the Southern States, am not eligible.'' 



CHAPTER II. 

FEDERAL CONVENTION. 

Man, as the minister and interpreter of Nature, does and understands as much as his 
observations on the order of nature, either with regard to things or the mind, permit liim 
and neither knows nor is capable of more. 

The subtlety of nature is far beyond that of sense or of the understanding: so that the 
specious meditations, speculations and theories of manlvind, are but a kind of insanity, 
only there is no one to stand by and observe it. — Novum Organon. 

The wit and mind of man, if it work upon matter, which is the contemplation of the 
creatures of God, worketh according to the stuff, and is limited thereby; but if it work 
upon itself, as the spider worketli his web, then it is endless and brings forfh indeed 
cobwebs of learning, admiralile for the fineness of thread and work, but of no substance 
or profit. — Advancement of Learning. 

When you assemble a number of men to have the advantage of their joint wisdom, 
you invariably assemble with those men all their prejudices, their passions, their errors 
of opinion, their local interests and thefr selfish views. — Dr. Franklin. 

On Friday, the 25th May, 1787, the Convention, professedly 
to reform, but as it proved to reconstruct, the Constitution, 
began its sessions at Philadelphia, and adjourned to the 17th 
September following, having been engaged in their arduous 
task something over three months. It was composed, for the 
most part, of the men under whose courageous counsels the 
country had passed through the travail of the Revolution ; 
they had all taken part in public affairs, either on the theatre 
of State or Federal politics, and had brought with them much 
2 



18 THE SECTIONAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

of that knowledge wliich is acquired only in the school of 
experience. 

The question of Representation chiefly engaged the atten- 
tion, excited the animosities, and consumed the time of that 
great synod. Other parts of the Constitution -were more 
readily agreed upon. Nor is this surprising; for the expe- 
rience of the country had been instructive. It had satisfied 
every mind that the government of the confederacy was in 
some particulars defective ; and had indicated those in which 
it needed reform. The consultation in consequence began 
with a number of conclusions which needed not the aid of argu- 
ment. Had the Convention confined itself to reforms of this 
nature, the work would have been rapidly dispatched ; but they 
undertook to re-cast the Constitution and to alter its frame, 
and this attempt produced new questions of the first moment 
to the country, and violent agitations which threatened on 
more than one occasion to dissolve the body.* 

So soon as it was determined by the Convention to create a 
government of great powers, it is not wonderful that the 
adjustment of the question of representation should have been 
found to be attended with such difiiculty and delay. Upon it 
depended the question of empire — what should be the relation 
which the two great sections, the North and South, were to 
occupy to the central power. 

There are those who look back upon the Convention with a 
romantic eye, and regard the able men of whom it was com- 
posed as beings of a superior order, devising, under the enlight- 
ened influence of reason and justice, political institutions for 
themselves and their posterity. But this is only the idolatry 
of admiration. If we draw near, and through the medium by 



* Luther Martin, in his address to the Maryland Legislature, says, with 
respect to the animosities engendered by the slavery discussion in the Con- 
vention: "I believe near a fortnight, perhaps more, was spent in the discus- 
sion of this business, during which we were on the verge of dissolution ^ 
scarce held together by a hair, though the public papers were announcing our 
extreme unanimity." 



HOW IT AYAS CREATED. 19' 

■whicli it has reached us, attend to the grave debate, it will be 
discovered that thej vrere men struggling, sometimes fiercely 
and sometimes unfairly, for particular objects and particular 
opinions which they wished the government to subserve and 
embody. The marvel is, not that jealousies and irritations 
should have arisen, but that they could have been composed. 
The business of the Convention was opened by Edmund 
Randolph, one of the delegates from Virginia, "a child of the 
Revolution," as on a subsequent occasion he styled himself. 
After giving an outline of the system which he wished to be 
adopted, he submitted a plan of government, which was taken 
as a basis on which to begin work. Mr. Charles Pinckney, a 
delegate from South Carolina, also submitted a plan of govern- 
ment, which is remarkable for the near resemblance which it 
bears to the Constitution, not only in phraseology, but in sub- 
stance. These plans no otherwise concern us here except on 
account of the different bases of representation which they 
contained. That of Mr. Randolph provided : " That the 
right of suffrage in the National Legislature ought to be pro- 
portioned to the quotas of contribution, or the number of free 
inhabitants, as the one or the other rule may seem best in dif- 
ferent cases." But Mr. Pinckney proposed to proportion rep- 
resentation in Congress according to the number of inhabi- 
tants taken in the gross. These two propositions respectively 
contain the extreme pretensions of the two sections. It will 
be discovered, in the course of this narration, what alterations 
each was in the end subjected to, and what expedient was 
resorted to, to bring these rival and jealous parties together. 
Of the first proposition it may be remarked, that it was at best 
but an ill-digested and double-headed project, and contained 
conclusive proof that its projector had not very maturely, cer- 
tainly not very profoundly, considered the weighty question. 
It rested on alternatives which were based on opposite princi- 
ples. If the first were adopted, and wealth or contribution 
made the measure of power, the government, in all its depart- 



20 THE SECTIONAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

raents, would pass under the dominion of the South ; but if 
the other, the North would have the preponderance. But the 
crude suggestion so far abandoned just principles as to leave 
it to Congress to decide between the two — thus throwing upon 
Congress the responsible duty of the Convention, and confer- 
ring upon it, in that particular, an almost unlimited range of 
power. Alexander Hamilton, a deputy from New York, pro- 
posed to simplify Mr. Randolph's proposition, and proportion 
representatives to the number of free inhabitants alone ; but 
sectional opposition being about to burst forth, the subject was 
laid over, it being evident that the most delicate and irritable 
part of the Constitution had been rudely touched. 

It is naturally a subject of surprise, that the darling pro- 
ject of the North should have originated with a gentleman 
representing the largest and most influential member of the 
Southern community. It was calculated to excite surprise 
and spread consternation in the ranks of his friends. So im- 
portant a defection, in the outset, was fraught with ill-omen to 
the success of the Convention; it can only be explained in the 
way above indicated, and that the distinguished gentleman 
was one of that small band who had been entangled in the 
mazes of the anti-slavery philosophy, then first lifting up its 
head. But at a later stage in the business, after the question 
had been discussed in its political applications, and had come 
to be viewed solely as a question of sectional power, Mr. 
Randolph promptly abandoned his own offspring, and assumed 
his proper place in the Southern ranks. That sudden revul- 
sion in the position of a leading character upon a subject of 
such engrossing importance, is extremely significant, and 
affords conclusive evidence of the attitude and complexion of 
parties. Such was the importance attached to negro slavery, 
as a political element, and so strong the bias of parties in 
respect to it, that Southern men, who were most averse from 
it, buried their prejudices, and rallied to its support. This 
prompt and thorough recantation places Mr. Randolph in the 



now IT WAS CREATED. " 21 

most favorable liglit. Notwithstanding that he had all the 
severity of character which belonged to a leader in those bust- 
ling times, yet he was not of that bigoted and inflexible turn 
which would induce him to cling to a dangerous error, after 
that error had been exposed. Indeed, he appears to have 
been of a more flexible temper ; — and when the alarm of sec- 
tions was rung, he retraced his steps, and with Madison, 
Pinckney, and the clear-headed and ever-faithful George 
Mason, was among the most unflinching advocates of the South, 
and inflexible opponents of Northern ambition. 

But the truce was of short duration. The business was at a 
stand. No progress could be made until a distribution of 
power had first been eff'ected. Neither the South nor the 
North, neither the large States nor the small States, could 
say with what authorities they were willing to entrust the 
government, until it was first determined what measure of in- 
fluence each was to wield. This, of itself, shows the supreme 
importance attached to that question. But the time had not 
been thrown away. In private an adjustment had been agreed 
upon. This is evident from the direction from which the ad- 
justment came. On the 11th of June, when the Constitution 
of the first branch of the Legislature was again taken up, Mr. 
Wilson, from Pennsylvania, a leader of great talents, seconded 
by Mr. Chas. Pinckney, from South Carolina, justly entitled 
from his abilities and activity to be esteemed a leader from the 
South, submitted a proposition that slaves should be admitted 
into the representative basis in the proportion of five slaves to 
three freemen. From this, it is clear that a compromise had 
been effected, and that each party had receded from its 
extreme pretensions. The vote on that compromise reveals 
most strikingly the healing influences that had been at work. 
The States of New Jersey and Delaware alone voted against 
it. Their motive evidently was to keep the whole question 
open, so as to prevent any combination being made between 
the large States and the slave States ; a combination which 
was, nevertheless, afterwards effected, and to defeat which, in 



22 THE SECTIONAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

part, the small States were finally compelled to assume the 
most decided attitude. From this single instance, it may be 
collected how great a part of the business was really transacted 
in private, no memorandum of which has been preserved. It 
will explain, too, how it happened that many questions of the 
deepest import were settled by the Convention with but little 
debate, and in some instances, without debate at all. 

I wish here to state, that when Mr. Wilson introduced his 
proposition, that he added, by way of explanation and recom- 
mendation, that it embraced the same ratio which, on a former 
occasion, had been proposed in an act of Congress as a mea- 
sure of taxation, and which had commanded the concurrence 
of eleven out of thirteen States. The reason of this, and the 
connexion between the two propositions, will hereafter be ex- 
amined, or rather the same proposition examined in its two-fold 
application. It will be found to throw a strong light on the 
purpose and meaning of that ratio as applied to representation. 

In the committee of the Avhole house, the principle of rep- 
resentation agreed upon for the first branch of Congress, was 
applied likewise to the second branch; and that conclusion 
was reported to the Convention. 

On Wednesday, the 27th June, " Mr. Kutledge moved to 
postpone the sixth resolution defining the powers of Congress, 
in order to take up the seventh and eighth, which involved the 
most fundamental points, the rules of sufi'rage in the two 
branches. Agreed to nem. con." The seventh and eighth 
resolutions of the report, Avere in the words following: 

" 7. Resolved, That the right of suffrage in the first branch 
of the National Legislature, ought not to be according to the 
rule established in the Articles of Confederation, but accord- 
ing to some equitable ratio of representation, namely, in pro- 
portion to the whole number of white and other free citizens 
and inhabitants, of every sex, age and condition, including 
those bound to servitude for a term of years, and three-Jifths 
of all other persons not comprehended in the foregoing de- 
scription, except Indians not paying taxes in each State. 



HOW IT WAS CREATED. 23 

" 8. Resolved, That the right of suffrage in the second 
branch of the National Legislature, ought to be according to 
the rule established for the first." 

It will be remarked, that the whole question, which was ulti- 
mately divided into tAvo branches, was, by these resolutions, 
presented in one point of view. The debate which ensued was 
extremely interesting, and shows, even in the condensed and 
imperfect account of it which has reached us, the difficulties 
which the Convention encountered. The proposed settlement 
was first assailed by the small States ; and one of the expedi- 
ents proposed by that interest for the settlement of the dis- 
pute exhibits, in striking colors, the deep-seated apprehension, 
unfounded as it was then pronounced, and has since turned 
out to be, of an absorption of the lesser by the greater States. 
It was proposed by the delegates from New Jersey and Dele- 
ware to confound all State lines and throw them into one mass, 
or into hotchpot, as the lawyers of the Convention called it, 
and then re-partition the territory into equal parts among the 
States. But the old difficulty would still have existed. Some 
of those equal allotments would have been greatly superior to 
others in wealth and population, which would have caused, to 
borrow a passage from Burke respecting a similar plan in the 
French Constitution of 1789, " such infinite variations between 
square and square, as to render mensuration a ridiculous stand- 
ard of power in the Commonwealth, and equality in geometry 
the most unequal of all measures in the distribution of men." 
New Jersey and Delaware demanded such a consolidation and 
re-distribution of territory, or an equality of representation 
for the States in every department of government. But the 
more moderate were content with an equal vote in the Senato- 
rial department, which they insisted upon as a negative " to 
save them from being destroyed." Self-protection was their 
avowed object. It was in this connection, and in reply to 
Mr. Edgeworth of Connecticut, that Mr. Madison delivered a 
speech, from which the following extract is made. It bears 
directly on the object of this publication, and states, in the 



24 THE SECTIONAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

most explicit language, the purpose and meaning of the frac- 
tional representation awarded to the South in both the legisla- 
tive departments by the 7th and 8th resolutions then under 
discussion. It is to the ratio which they contained that Mr. 
Madison alludes: 

" He admitted that every peculiar interest, whether in any 
class of citizens, or any description of States,, ought to be se- 
cured as far as possible. Wherever there is danger of attack, 
there ought to be given a constitutional power of defence. 
But he contended that the States were divided into different 
interests, not by their difference of size, but by other circum- 
stances ; the most material of which resulted partly from 
climate, but principally from the effects of their having, or not 
having slaves. These two causes concurred in forming the 
great division of interests in the United States. It did not 
lie between the large and small States. It lay between the 
Northern and Southern ; and if any defensive power were 
necessary, it ought to be mutually given to these two interests. 
He was so strongly impressed with this important truth, that 
he had been casting about in his mind for some expedient that 
would answer the purpose. The one which had occurred, was, 
that instead of proportioning the votes of the States in both 
branches, to their respective number of inhabitants, computing 
the slaves in the ratio of five to three, they should be repre- 
sented in one branch according to the number of free inhabi- 
tants only ; and in the other according to the whole number, 
counting the slaves as free. By this arrangement, the South- 
ern scale would have the advantage in one house, and the 
Northern in the other. He had been restrained from pro- 
posing this expedient by two considerations ; one was his 
unwillingness to urge any diversity of interests on an occasion 
where it is but too apt to arise of itself; the other was the 
inequality of powers that must be vested in the two branches, 
and which would destroy the equilibrium of interests." 

This speech, so admirable for its correct appreciation of the 
true principles of representative government, opens the discus- 



now IT WAS CREATED. 25 

sion, so far as the debates show, upon the subject of slavery. 
It exhibits the principles by which the speaker as a constitu- 
tion maker was guided, and especially sets forth the principles 
upon which he had, as a Southern delegate, insisted. There 
could not be produced more undeniable evidence — evidence 
amounting to the clearest proof — that the ratio of three-fifths, 
as it stood in the report of the committee of the whole, then 
under the consideration of the Convention, was looked upon as 
designed to produce an equilibrium between the two sections. 
This is fortified, and if any doubt remained, would be rendered 
certain, by the narrative of the introduction of that compro- 
mise heretofore given. This is but the contemporaneous 
exposition of the purpose of the proposed basis, by a single 
member of the Convention, but, let it be borne in mind, a 
member speaking for the whole South, and speaking to the 
whole North. I will proceed to collect all the passages from 
the succeeding debate, which concern this point, in order to 
prove that it was universally looked upon in the same light in 
which it was viewed by Mr. Madison. By this means, the 
purpose which that body had in view, in establishing that frac- 
tional basis, that mode of distributing power between jealous 
and at length irritated sections, will be established — estab- 
lished, it is believed, to the satisfaction of every sound under- 
standing. 

The debate on the eighth resolution, which constituted the 
second branch of the legislature on the three-fifths ratio, was 
continued between the larger and the smaller States until the 
2nd July, when the Convention divided, by an equal vote, on 
that question. Maryland voted with the North, because she 
considered herself in the interest of the small States. But, 
with that exception, the whole South voted for that resolution. 
Sectional considerations produced that unity on the part of the 
South, because, as heretofore observed, to have yielded that 
department to the control of the small States would have been 
to place it under Northern control, the Southern policy then 
being to have the legislature divided equally between the sec- 



26 THE SECTIONAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

tions, a determining motive with them, as "will be disclosed 
towards the end of the debate. Pennsylvania and Massachu- 
setts, on that occasion, voted with the South ; because of the 
proportional representation which the ninth section embraced. 
The contest then was between the large and small States, an 
issue upon which the South, Maryland excepted, invariably 
voted Avith Massachusetts and Pennsylvania. The smoul- 
dering fires of sectional jealousy had not then burst forth. 
But, after they had burst forth, so fierce was the heat with 
which they burned, and so strong the sympathy that linked 
the Northern States together, that Mr. Gouverneur Morris, of 
Pennsylvania, threatened to desert to the small States, or 
rather proclaimed that he would be compelled to vote for " the 
vicious principle of equality in the second branch," in order to 
give the North a counterpoise against the South, to whom the 
three-fifths ratio, in his opinion, would deliver the first branch' 
of the legislature. The advantage which an equal vote in the 
Senate would secure to the North will explain the following 
speech of Mr. Charles Pinckney in opposition to it, which was 
delivered immediately on the announcement of the vote just 
alluded to : 

" Mr. Pinckney thought an equality of votes in the second 
branch inadmissible ; at the same time, candor obliged him to 
admit that the large States would feel a partiality for their 
own citizens, and give them a preference in appointments ; 
that they might also find some common points in their com- 
mercial interests, and promote treaties favorable to them. 
There is a real distinction between Northern and Southern 
interests. North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia, in 
their rice and indigo, had a peculiar interest which might be 
sacrificed. How, then, shall the larger States be prevented 
from administering the general government as they please, 
without being themselves unduly subjected to the will of the 
smaller ? By allowing them some, but not a full proportion. 
He was extremely anxious that something should be done, con- 
sidering this as the last appeal to a regular experiment. Con- 



now IT WAS CREATED. 27 

gress have failed in almost every eifort for an amendment of 
the Federal system. Nothing has prevented a dissolution of 
it but the appointment of this Convention ; and he could not 
express his alarms for the consequence of such an event." 

General Pinckney then proposed that a committee, consist- 
ing of a member from each State, should be appointed. The 
proposition to refer covered only the eighth resolution ; as yet 
the seventh resolution had not been assailed. But the bile of 
anti-slavery rising in the heart of Mr. Strong, a Northern 
delegate, he proposed that the whole question, embracing 
both resolutions, should go to committee. Thus the entire 
ground which had been gained was lost, and the Convention 
was again at sea. 

Whilst the proposition of Gen. Pinckney was pending, Mr. 
Gouverneur Morris, of Pennsylvania, spoke, and, without sub- 
mitting any distinct plan, advocated a government in which 
the Senate and the Executive should be appointed for life, 
with a House of Commons framed on liberal ideas. The 
scheme, itself, was but the re-production of that which already 
had been brought forward by Col. Hamilton, and thoroughly 
exposed by Mr. Charles Pinckney. It was the reflection, and 
nothing more than the reflection, of the English Constitution. 
By its adoption it was probably the hope of its projector that 
corresponding interests would, after a while, grow up in the 
country. But the mind of Mr. Morris seemed filled with 
other ideas. He turned away from sectional interests, and 
even denied their existence ; but with what candor, the reader 
will hereafter discover. Burke has said, that there is a class 
of public men whose patriotism is altogether historical. This 
was eminently true of the political wisdom of Mr. Morris ; 
for he walked with Solon. Unable or unwillino; to recoijnise 
the strongly marked difi"erences of the country for which he 
presumed to suggest a Constitution, his eyes were riveted on 
the Republics of Antiquity, patterns which stood ready shaped 
to his hand. He proposed to construct the government with 



28 THE SECTIONAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

reference alone to the distinctions of the rich and the poor. 
Between these two classes the legislature, as we have seen, was 
to be divided. According to his philosophy, these two ele- 
ments in society were continually at war, and could not dwell 
in amity together ; that the rich man feared the poor man 
because he was poor, and the poor man hated the rich man 
because he was rich ; and that there was but one way to avoid 
oppression on the one hand, or confiscation on the other. If 
things had been as they were in the antique models T\hich 
filled the imagination and monopolized the thoughts of Mr. 
Morris ; or even, as according to his opinion, they threatened 
then to become in Pennsylvania, framed, as society then w'as, 
on the substratum of free-soil, his suggestion would have been 
well founded. As it was, he gave very good reasons for a very 
bad thing. In respect to the aristocratic house which he pro- 
posed to establish, he said : " In the first place, the checking 
branch must have a personal interest in checking the other 
branch. One interest must he opposed to another interest. 
Vices, as they exist, must be opposed to each other." In 
short, he proposed to arm each of those social elements with 
a defensive power in the government. This shows how 
prevalent, among all reading and thinking men, was the 
opinion of the necessity of that principle in popular govern- 
ment — to establish between them an equilibrium. It is a 
fact worthy of notice, that in all the various schemes broached 
in the Convention, that principle, under one modification or 
another, was embraced. They seemed to look upon it, as in 
truth it was, a back of steel ; that, with it, representative 
government was the greatest blessing of society ; but, without 
it, that it was a bubble that would rise to the surface, glisten for 
a moment, and be dispersed forever ; nor is it surprising that 
this opinion should have so universally prevailed. It was 
inculcated by the classical authors, then much read ; was 
taught by Montesquieu, a great authority, and oftener quoted 
than any other in the Convention ; and, above all, was incor- 
porated into the English Constitution, which w^as thought, at 



HOW IT WAS CREATED. 29 

that time, to be the best government which the world had ever 
seen. With that superb model before their eyes, they ever 
acted. 

The proposition of General Pinckney was concurred in. 
Of that committee, known in the annals of the Convention 
as the Grand Committee, Mr. Gerry, of Massachusetts, was 
chairman. The day following, being the fourth of July, the 
Convention rested from their labors. But the committee de- 
voted the holiday to settling the conditions of an adjustment. 
No angry collisions had as yet taken place, but, from the 
following observations of Mr. Williamson, from North Caro- 
lina, it is to be inferred that the temper of the respective 
parties boded a fierce contest : " If we do not concede on 
both sides, our business must soon be at an end. He ap- 
proved of the commitment, supposing that, as the committee 
would be a smaller body, a compromise would be pursued with 
more coolness." The next day, Mr. Gerry made his report, 
from which it is clearly visible how intimately connected was 
the question of representation in both branches : 

" That the subsequent propositions be recommended to 
the Convention, on condition that both shall be generally 
adopted : 

" 1. That in the first branch of the legislature each of 
the States now in the Union shall be allowed one member for 
every forty thousand inhabitants, of the description reported 
in the seventh resolution of the committee of the whole 
house ; that each State, not containing that number, shall 
be allowed one member ; that all bills for raising or appro- 
priating money, and for fixing the salaries of the officers of the 
government of the United States, shall originate in the first 
branch of the legislature, and shall not be altered or amended 
by the second branch; and that no money shall be drawn 
from the public treasury, but in pursuance of appropriations 
to be originated in the first branch. 

" 2. That in the second branch each State shall have an 
equal vote." 



80 THE SECTIONAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

It is to be remarked of the first proposition of this report, 
that it contains evidence of the mutual concessions between 
the larger States and the slave States, not only in the pro- 
portional representation embraced in the three-fifths ratio, 
but in the exclusive privilege reserved to that branch of the 
legislature in which the large States are represented, to origi- 
nate money bills. This was regarded by the large States as 
an important provision. 

Those who construe the three-fifths ratio, contained in Mr. 
Gerry's report, into a capitulation of the South, will not only 
have been astonished at the construction heretofore put on it, 
but will have their astonishment increased by perusing the 
debate which took place on that report. 

" Mr. GoRHAM, of Massachusetts, observed, that as the 
report consisted of propositions mutually conditional, he 
wished to hear some explanations touching the grounds on 
which the conditions were estimated. 

" Mr. Gerry. — The committee were of different opinions, 
as well as the deputations from which the committee were 
taken ; and agreed to the report, merely in order that some 
ground of accommodation might be proposed. Those opposed 
to the equality of votes have only assented conditionally ; and 
if the other side do not generally agree, will not be under 
any obligation to sui^povt the report." 

After some heated discussion, in which the members from 
the small States talked of appealing to foreign intervention, 
in case their pretensions were not admitted, it was determined 
by the Convention to consider separately the propositions of 
the report. The first proposition was then taken up. Par- 
ticular attention is invited to the following remarks of Mr. 
Morris, of Pennsylvania, and of Mr. Rutledge, of South 
Carolina. They show one of the lights in which the frac- 
tional representation was regarded. It is sometimes con- 
tended that the representation of slaves was adopted only as 
a mode of representing property ; but it will be seen that 



HOW IT AVAS CREATED. 31 

slaves were treated as persons, it being left to the laws of 
the States in which they were to declare their status. 

" Mr. GouvERNEUR MoRRis objected to the scale of appor- 
tionment. JTe thought property ought to he taken into the 
estimate, as well as the number of inhabitants. Life and 
liberty were generally said to be of more value than property. 
An accurate view of the matter would, nevertheless, prove 
that property was the main object of society. 

" Mr. EuTLEDGE. — The gentleman last up had spoken his 
sentiments precisely. Property was certainly the principal 
object of society." 

He concluded by proposing to apportion representation 
according to the contributions paid into the general treasury. 
But this proposition was voted down. Thus it was deter- 
mined to rest the government upon population, not upon 
property, — blacks, equally as whites, being treated as per- 
sons. As far as representation was concerned, they were put 
on the same ground. This ought to put at rest the idea, that 
the Constitution treats slaves in any other light than as per- 
sons, whose status is fixed by the States which they inhabit. 
This point will be important in another connection, and, there- 
fore, it is noted here. Mr. Morris subsequently moved to 
commit so much of the report as related " to one member for 
every forty thousand inhabitants." His view was, that they 
might absolutely fix the number for each State in the first 
instance ; leaving the legislature at liberty to provide for 
changes in the relative impiortance of the States and for the 
case of new States. 

It will be observed of this proposal, that it would have 
made a free-soil government, with power in that government 
to perpetuate the domination of the Northern interest. It 
was a favorite plan with Mr. Morris, to leave the basis of 
representation subject to the discretion of Congress. It will 
be seen, however, that when the question came to the vote, it 
was solemnly determined by the Convention, that the Consti- 



32 THE SECTIONAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

tutlon ought to settle that question, thereby refusing to vest 
in Congress so extraordinary a power. The proposition to 
commit, however, was adopted; and Mr. Morris was appointed 
chairman of the committee. His report, when handed in, 
pleased nobody, and was chiefly remarkable for embracing 
the idea before thrown out by him. It secured, at the same 
time, a Northern preponderance, and drew forth from Mr. 
Randolph the following observation : " He was apprehensive 
that, as the number was not to be changed till the National 
legislature should please, a pretext would never be wanting to 
postpone alterations, and keep the power in the hands of 
those possessed of it. He was in favor of a commitment." 
So another committee, consisting of five members, was ap- 
pointed to take into consideration the constitution of the first 
house of the legislature ; and of this committee, Mr. King, of 
Massachusetts, was chairman. On the 10th July,* Mr. King 
reported, " that the States, at the first meeting of the general 
legislature, should be represented by sixty-five members, in 
the following proportions, to wit : New Hampshire, by three ; 
Massachusetts, eight ; Rhode Island, one ; Connecticut, five ; 
New York, six ; New Jersey, four ; Pennsylvania, eight ; 
Delaware, one ; Maryland, six ; Virginia, ten ; North Caro- 
lina, five ; South Carolina, five ; Georgia, three." 

It will be seen, from the subsequent explanation of Mr. 
King, that this apportionment was based upon the ratio, al- 
ready agreed upon, of three-fifths. But, as no provision was 



* On this day, Washington thus wrote to Alexander Hamilton, ■who was 
absent from the Convention : " I thank you for your communication of the 
3d instant. AVhen I refer you to the state of the counsels -which prevailed 
at the period you left this city, and add that they are now, if possible, in a 
worse train than ever, you will find but little ground on which the hope of 
a good establishment can be formed. In a word, I almost despair of seeing 
a favorable issue to the proceedings of our Convention, and do, therefore, 
repent having had any agency in the business." ******* "I 
am sorry you went away. I wish you were back. The crisis is equally im- 
portant and alarming." This account of the temper of the Convention agrees 
well with the debate as transmitted to us by Madison. 



HOW IT WAS CREATED. 33 

made for a census, it was a naked proposition to place the 
control of the government under the free-soil section. The 
debate will discover how far the Southern delegates agreed to 
that humiliating condition. It was the universal belief, that 
the South was destined to be, as it then was, the most popu- 
lous region, and this explains why the North objected to a 
full representation of slaves, and why Mr. Randolph and Mr. 
Mason insisted so strenuously upon a census. 

" Mr. RuTLEDGE moved that New Hampshire be reduced 
from three to two members. Her numbers did not entitle 
her to three, and it was a poor State. 

" Gen. PiNCKNEY seconds the motion. 

" Mr. King. — New Hampshire has probably more than one 
hundred and twenty thousand inhabitants, and has an exten- 
sive country of tolerable fertility. Its inhabitants may, there- 
fore, be expected to increase fast. He remarked, that the 
four Eastern States, having eight hundred thousand souls, 
have one-third fewer representatives than the four Southern 
States, having not more than seven hundred thousand souls, 
rating the blacks five to three. The Eastern people will ad- 
vert to these circumstances, and be dissatisfied. He believed 
them to be very desirous of uniting with their Southern 
brethren, but did not think it prudent to rely so far on that 
disposition, as to subject them to any gross inequality. He 
was fully convinced that the question concerniiig a difference 
of interest did not lie, ivhere it had hitherto been discussed^ 
between the great and small States, but between the Southern 
and Eastern ; for this reason he had been ready to yield 
something in the proportion of representatives for the security 
of the Southern. No principle would justify giving them a 
majority. They were brought as near equality as possible. 
He was not adverse to giving them a still greater security, 
but did not see how it could be done. 

" Gen. PiNCKNEY. — The report, before it was committed, 
was more favorable to the Southern States than as it now 
stands. If they are to form so considerable a minority, and 
3 



34 THE SECTIONAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

the regulation of trade is to he given to the General Giov- 
ernment, they will he nothing more than overseers for the 
Northern States. Ee did not expect the Southern States to 
he raised to a majority of representatives ; hut wished them 
to have somethitig like an equality. At present, by the 
alterations of the committee, in favor of the Northern States, 
they are removed further from it than they were before. 
One member, indeed, had been added to Virginia, •which he 
■was glad of, as he considered her a Southern State. He was 
glad also that the members of Georgia were increased. 

"Mr. Williamson was not for reducing New Hampshire 
from three to two, but for reducing some others. The South- 
ern interest must be extremely endangered by the present 
arrangement. The Northern States are to have a majority 
in the first instance, and the means of perpetuating it. 

" Mr. Dayton, from New Jersey, observed, that the line 
between the Northern and Southern interest had been im- 
properly drawn ; that Pennsylvania v;as the dividing State, 
there being six on each side of her. 

" Gen. PiNCKNEY urged the reduction; dwelt on the supe- 
rior wealth of the Southern States, and insisted on its having 
its due weight in the government. 

" Mr. GouvERNEUR Morris regretted the turn of the de- 
bate. The States, he found, had many representatives on the 
floor. Few, he feared, were to be deemed the representatives 
of America. He thought the Southern States have, by the 
report, more than their share of representation. Property 
ought to have its weight, but not all the weight. If the 
Southern States are to supply money, the Northern States 
are to spill their blood. Besides, the probable revenue from 
the Southern States has been greatly overrated. He was 
against reducing New Hampshire. 

" Mr. Randolph was opposed to a reduction of New Hamp- 
shire, not hecause she had a full title to three memhers ; hut 
hecause it was in his contemplation, first, to make it the duty, 
instead of leaving it to the discretion, of the legislature to 



HOW IT WAS CREATED. 35 

regulate the representation hy a periodical census ; secondly, 
to recognize more than a bare majority of votes in the legisla- 
ture, in certain cases, and particularly in commercial cases. 
On the question for reducing New Hampshire, it passed in 
the negative." 

Then followed motions to increase the representatives from 
the Southern States, all of which were negatived, Virginia 
and North Carolina voting against the motions, which dis- 
closes the fact, that both Virginia and North Carolina looked 
to a periodical census to rectify such inequalities in repre- 
sentation as might exist at first. Accordingly, and in pursu- 
ance of his declared intent, Mr. Randolph moved, as an 
amendment to the report of the committee of five, " that, in 
order to ascertain the alterations in the population and wealth 
of the several States, the legislature should be required to 
cause a census and estimate to be taken within one year after 

its first meeting, and every years thereafter; and that 

the legislature arrange the representation accordingly. 

"Mr. GouvERNEUR Morris opposed it, as fettering the 
legislature too much." 

On Wednesday, the 11th of July, Mr. Randolph's motion, 
requiring the legislature to take a periodical census, for the 
purpose of redressing inequalities in the representation, was 
resumed. 

" Mr. Sherman, of Connecticut, was against shackling the 
legislature too much. We ought to choose wise and good 
men,* and then confide in them." 

How cunningly he puts it — wise and good men — that is, 
Northern men. But Col. Mason and Mr. Randolph did not 

* Mr. Gerry, in the Federal Convention, gave a glowing picture of the 
moral condition of Massachusetts, which was a part of the Northern commu- 
nity from which the wise and virtuous men of whom Mr. Sherman speaks 
were to be selected: "In Massachusetts, the worst men get into the legisla- 
ture; several members of that body had lately been convicted of infamous 
crimes. Men of indigence, ignorance and baseness spare no pains, however 
dirty, to carry their point against men who are superior to the artifices 
practised." — Madison Papers, p. 801. 



86 THE SECTIONAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

appear to have had the same unlimited confidence in a free-soil 
Congress. They continued to press the census, which clearly 
proves that it was not their purpose to put the South in the 
condition of a minority, and so dependent on the forbearance 
of the North. 

" Mr. Mason. The greater the difficulty we find in fixing 
the proper rule of representation, the more unwilling ought 
we to be to throw the task, from ourselves, on the general 
legislature. He did not object to the conjectural ratio 
which was to prevail in the outset ; but considered a revision 
from time to time, according to some permanent and precise 
standard, as essential to the fair representation required in 
the first branch. According to the present population of 
America, the Northern part of it had a right to preponderate, 
and he could not deny it ; but he wished it not to preponde- 
rate hereafter, when the reason for it no longer continued. 
From the nature of man, we may be sure that those who have 
power in their hands will not give it up while they can retain 
it. On the contrary, we know that they will always, when 
they can, rather increase it. If the Southern States, there- 
fore, should have three-fifths of the people of America within 
their limits, the Northern Avill hold fast the majority of repre- 
sentatives. One-fourth will govern the three-fourths. The 
Southern States will complain ; but they may complain, from 
generation to generation, without redress. Unless some prin- 
ciple, therefore, which will do them justice hereafter, shall be 
inserted in the Constitution, disagreeable as the declaration 
was to him, he must declare he would neither vote for the 
system here, nor support it in his own State. 

" Mr. Williamson was for making it a duty of the legisla- 
ture to do what was right; and not leaving it at liberty to do or 
not to do it. He moved that Mr. Randolph's propositions be 
postponed, in order to consider the following : ' That, in order 
to ascertain the alterations that may happen in the population 
and wealth of the several States, a census shall be taken of 
the free white inhabitants, and three-fifths of those of other 



HOW IT WAS CREATED. 37 

descriptions, on the first year after this Government shall have 

been adopted, and every years thereafter ; and that the 

representation be regulated accordingly.' 

" Mr. Randolph agreed that Mr. Williamson's proposition 
should stand in place of his. He observed, that the ratio 
fixed for the first meeting was a mere conjecture ; that it 
placed the power in the hands of that part of America which 
could not always be entitled to it ; that this power would not 
be voluntarily renounced ; and that it was, consequently, the 
duty of the Convention to secure its renunciation by some 
constitutional provisions. 

" Mr. Butler and Gen. Pinckney insisted, that the blacks 
be included in the rule of representation, equally with the 
whites ; and, for that purpose, moved that the words ' three- 
fifths ' be struck out." 

It will be remembered that it was Mr. Chas. Pinckney who, 
along with Mr. Wilson, had introduced the three-fifths ratio. 
Gen. Pinckney, however, appears, through the whole course of 
the debate, to have aimed at a Southern preponderance. 

" Mr. Gerry thought that three-fifths of them was, to say 
the least, the full proportion that could be admitted. 

" Mr. GoRHAM. This ratio was fixed by Congress, as a 
rule of taxation. Then it was urged by the delegates repre- 
senting the States having slaves, that the blacks were still 
more inferior to freemen. At present, when the ratio of rep- 
resentation is to be established, we are assured that they are 
equal to free men. The arguments on the former occasion 
had convinced him that three-fifths was pretty near the just 
proportion^ and he should vote according to the same opinion 
now. 

Mr. Butler insisted that the labor of a slave in South 
Carolina was as productive and valuable as that of a free man 
in Massachusetts ; that as wealth was the great means of de- 
fence and utility to the nation, they were equally valuable 
with freemen ; and that, consequently, an equal representation 
ought to be allowed for them in a government which was in- 



38 THE SECTIONAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

stituted principally for the protection of property, and was 
itself to be supported by property. 

"Mr. Mason could not agree to the motion, notwithstand- 
ing it was favorable to Virginia, because he thought it unjust. 
It was certain that the slaves were valuable, as they raised the 
value of land, increased the exports and imports, and, of 
course, the revenue, would supply the means of feeding and 
supporting an army, and might, in cases of emergence/, become 
themselves soldiers. As, in these important respects, they 
were useful to the community at large, they ought not to be 
excluded from the representation. He added, as worthy of 
remark, that the Southern States have this peculiar species of 
property, over and above the other species of property, com- 
mon to all ths States. 

Mr. Williamson reminded Mr. Gorham that if the South- 
ern States contended for the inferiority of blacks to whites, 
when taxation was in view, the Eastern States, on the same 
occasion, contended for their equality.* He did not, however, 
either then, or now, concur in either extreme ; but approved 
of the ratio of three-fifths." 

Mr. Butler's motion, for considering blacks equal to whites, 
was rejected — Delaware, South Carolina and Georgia voting 



* lathe Congress of 1776, "John Adams observed, that the numbers of 
people were taken by this article, as the index of the wealth of the States, 
and not as subjects of taxation. That, as to this matter, it was of no conse- 
quence by what name you called your people, whether by that of freemen, or 
of slaves. That, in some countries, the laboring poor were called freemen ; in 
others, they were called slaves : but that the difference was imaginary only. 
What matters it, whether a landlord, employing ten laborers on his farm, 
gives them annually as much as will buy the necessaries of life, or gives 
them those necessaries — at short hand ? The ten laborers add as much 
wealth annually to the State, increase its exports as much in the one case as 
the other. Certainly five hundred freemen produce no more profits, no 
greater surplus for the payment of taxes, than five hundred slaves. There- 
fore the State in which the laborers are called freemen should be taxed no 
more than that in which are those called slaves. Suppose, by any extraordi- 
nary operation of nature or of law, one half the laborers of a State could, 
in the course of one night, be transformed into slaves, would the State bo 
made the poorer, or more unable to pay taxes ? 



HOW IT WAS CREATED. 39 

in the affirmative. I cannot explain Delaware's vote on this 
occasion, except by her extreme jealousy of Pennsylvania. 
Like most small bodies, she was extremely sensitive on the 
score of her importance ; and, as it was clear that a propor- 
tional representation would be established in, at least, one 
branch of the legislature, she preferred that the supremacy 
should be lodged with the slave States, from whom she enter- 
tained no such apprehension. This, however, was only one 
of the complications Avhich embarrassed that vital point. 

The debate on Mr. Williamson's resolution was continued. 

"Mr. GouVERNEUR MoRRiS Said, he had several objections 
to the proposition of Mr. "Williamson. In the first place, it 
fettered the legislature too much; in the second place, it would 
exclude some States altogether who would not have a sufficient 
number to entitle them to a single representative ; in the third 
place, it will not consist with the resolution passed on Saturday 
last, authorizing the legislature to adjust the representation, 
from time to time, on the principles of population and wealth; 
nor with the principles of equity. If slaves were to be con- 
sidered as inhabitants, and not as wealth, then the said reso- 
lution would not be pursued ; if as wealth, then why no other 
wealth, but slaves, included? These objections may perhaps 
be removed by amendments. His great objection was, that 
the number of inhabitants was not a proper standard of 
wealth. 

" Mr. King thought there was great force in the objections 
of Mr. Morris. He would, however, accede to the proposition 
for the sake of doing something. 

" Mr. RuTLEDGE contended for the admission of wealth in 
the estimate, by which representation should be regulated." 

In accordance with this view he moved that the legislature, 
from time to time, should proportion the representation accord- 
ing to the principles of wealth and population. A debate 
took place on Mr. Rutledge's proposition, in the course of 
which Mr. Gouverneur Morris advocated the proposition. 

In reply to him, Mr. Madison said: "He was not a little 



40 THE SECTIONAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

surprised to hear this implicit confidence urged by a member, 
who, on all occasions, had inculcated so strongly the political 
depravity of men, and the necessity of checking one vice and 
interest by opposing them to another vice and interest. If 
the representatives of the people would be bound by the ties 
he had mentioned, what need was there of a Senate, what of 
a revisionary power ? But his reasoning was not only incon- 
sistent with his former reasoning, but with itself. At the same 
time that he recommended this implicit confidence to the 
Southern States, in the Northern majority^ he was still more 
zealous in exhorting all to a jealousy of a Western majority. 
To reconcile the gentleman with himself, it must be imagined 
that he determined the human character by the points of the 
compass. The truth was, that all men, having power, ought 
to be distrusted to a certain degree" This reveals the princi- 
ple of Mr. Madison's political philosophy. He appears to have 
thought that no section could be safely entrusted with the 
power to dominate over another section. Certainly, it is not to 
be inferred that he was willing to trust a Northern majority 
with a dominion over the South. He was opposed to any dis- 
criraination against the equality of the New States, as it did 
not appear that they would be divided by any peculiar interest 
from the other States. 

Mr. Rutledge's motion was lost. On the question on the first 
clause of Mr. Williamson's motion, as to taking a census of 
the free inhabitants, it passed in the affirmative. The next 
clause, as to three-fifths of the negroes, being considered — 

"Mr. King, being much opposed to fixing numbers as the 
rule of representation, was particularly so on account of the 
blacks. He thought the admission of them along with the 
whites at all, would excite great discontents among the States 
having no slaves. He had never said, as to any particular 
point, that he would, in no event, acquiesce in and support it; 
but he would say, that if, in any case, such a declaration was 
to be made by him, it would be in this. He remarked that in 
the temporary allotment of representatives, made by the com- 



HOW IT WAS CREATED. 41 

mittee, the Southern States had received more than the num- 
ber of their white, and three-fifths of their black, inhabitants 
entitled them to. 

" Mr. Sherman. — South Carolina had not more beyond her 
proportion than New York and New Hampshire; nor either 
of them more than was necessary for them to avoid factions, 
or reducing them below their proportion. Georgia had more ; 
but the rapid growth of that State seemed to justify it. In 
general, the allotment might not be just, but, considering all 
the circumstances, he was satisfied with it. 

" Mr. GORHAM supported the propriety of establishing num- 
bers as the rule. He said that, in Massachusetts, estimates 
had been taken in the different towns, and that persons had 
been curious enough to compare these estimates with the 
respective numbers of people ; and it had been found, even 
including Boston, that the most exact proportion prevailed 
between numbers and property. He was aware that there 
might be some weight in what had fallen from his colleague, 
as to the umbrage which might be taken by the people of the 
Eastern States. But he recollected, that when the proposi- 
tion of Congress for changing the eighth article of the Con- 
federation was before the legislature of Massachusetts, the 
only difficulty then was to satisfy them that the negroes ought 
not to have been counted equally with the whites, instead of 
being counted in the ratio of three-fifths only. 

" Mr. Wilson did not see on what principle the admission 
of blacks, in the proportion of three-fifths, could be explained. 
Are they admitted as citizens — then why are they not admit- 
ted on an equality with white citizens ? Are they admitted 
as property — then why not other property admitted into the 
computation ? These were difficulties, Jwtvever, which he 
thought must he overruled hy the necessity of comijromise. 
He had some apprehensions, also, from the tendency of the 
blending of the blacks with the whites, to give disgust to the 
people of Pennsylvania, as had been intimated by his colleague 
(Mr. Gouverneur Morris), but he differed from him in think- 



42 THE SECTIONAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

ing the number of inhabitants so incorrect a measure of 
wealth. He had seen the western settlements of Pennsyl- 
vania, and, on a comparison of them with the city of Phila- 
delphia, could discover little other difference, than that pro- 
perty was more unequally divided here than there. Taking 
the same number in the aggregate of the two situations, he 
believed there would be little difference in their wealth and 
ability to contribute to the public wants. 

" Mr. GouvERNEUR MoRRis was compelled to declare him- 
self reduced to the dilemma of doing injustice to the Southern 
States or to human nature ; he must, therefore, do it to the 
former. For he could never agree to give such encourage- 
ment to the slave trade as would be given by allowing them a 
representation for their negroes ; and he did not believe these 
States would ever confederate on terms that would deprive 
them of that trade." 

On the question for agreeing to include three-fifths of 
the blacks, — Connecticut, Virginia, North Carolina, Georgia, 
aye — 4 ; Massachusetts, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, 
Maryland, South Carolina, no — 6. On the question for taking 
the census, " the first year after the meeting of the legisla- 
ture," the proposition passed in the affirmative. It is to bo 
observed, in the foregoing vote, that South Carolina voted 
against the three-fifths ratio, on account of her preference for 
a full representation of slaves. And " Mr. Carroll explained 
the vote of Maryland, on the ground that her delegation 
objected to its phraseology." 

It is to be observed in this debate, that Mr. Wilson avow- 
edly accepted the three-fifths ratio as a compromise ; and 
that Mr. Morris objected to it, on the ground of the encour- 
agement it would give to the slave trade — thereby establishing 
a direct connection between the basis of representation and 
the importation of slaves. It will be remarked, likewise, that 
Mr. Wilson pointed out the impropriety of admitting slaves 
into the basis as property, without, at the same time, including 
other species of property. 



now IT WAS CREATED. 43 

From the period of the rejection of Mr. Williamson's sub- 
stitute for Mr. Randolph's proposition, the war of sections 
burst forth in its greatest violence — a war -which was not com- 
posed uiitil the restoration of the compromise by a full and 
conclusive vote of the Convention. The next succeeding de- 
bate turned upon the sectional issue ; and then the sectional 
collision was fiercest. 

On Thursday, the twelfth of July, the struggle again began. 

" In Convention, Mr. Gouverneur Morris moved to add 
to the clause empowering the legislature to vary the repre- 
sentation according to the principles of wealth and numbers of 
inhabitants, a proviso, ' that taxation shall be in proportion to 
representation.' 

" Mr. Butler contended again, that representation should 
be according to the full number of inhabitants, including all 
the blacks; admitting the justice of Mr. Gouverneur Morris' 
motion. 

" Mr. Mason also admitted the justice of the principle, but 
was afraid embarrassments might be occasioned to the legisla- 
ture by it. It might drive the legislature to the plan of 
requisitions. 

" Mr. Gouverneur Morris admitted that some objection 
lay against his motion, but supposed they would be removed 
by restraining the rule to direct taxation. With regard to 
indirect taxes on exports and imports, and on consumption, 
the rule would be inapplicable. 

" Gen. PiNCKNEY liked the idea. He thought it so just, 
that it could not be objected to; but foresaw that if the revi- 
sion of the census was left to the discretion of the legislature, 
it would never be carried into execution. The rule must be 
fixed, and the execution of it enforced, by the Constitution. 
He was alarmed at what was said yesterday concerning the 
negroes. He was now again alarmed at what had been thrown 
out concerning the taxing of exports. South Carolina has, in 
one year, exported to the amount of six hundred thousand 
pounds sterling, all of which was the fruit of the labor of her 



44 THE SECTIONAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

blacks. Will she be represented in proportion to this amount? 
She will not. Neither ought she then to be subject to a tax 
on it. He hoped a clause would be inserted in the system, 
restraining the legislature from taxing exports. 

" Mr. Wilson approved the principle, but could not see 
how it could be carried into execution, unless restrained to 
direct taxation. 

" Mr. GouvERNEUR Morris having so varied his motion, 
by inserting the word 'direct,' it passed nem. co7i., as follows: 
' provided always that direct taxation ought to be proportioned 
to representation.' 

" Mr. Davis said it was high time now to speak out. He 
saw that it was meant by some gentlemen to deprive the 
Southern States of any share of representation for their 
blacks. He was sure that North Carolina would never con- 
federate on any terms that did not rate them, at least, as 
three-fifths. If the Eastern States meant, therefore, to ex- 
clude them altogether, the business was at an end. 

"Mr. GouvERNEUR Morris. It had been said that it was 
high time to speak out. As one member, he would candidly 
do so. He came here to form a compact for the good of 
America. He was ready to do so with all the States. He 
hoped, and believed, that all would enter into such a compact. 
If they would not, he was ready to join with any States that 
would. But, as the compact was to be voluntary, it is in 
vain for the Eastern States to insist on what the Southern 
States will never agree to. It is equally vain for the latter to 
require, what the other States can never admit ; and he verily 
believed the people of Pennsylvania will never agree to a rep- 
resentation of negroes. What can be desired of these States 
more than has been already proposed — that the legislature 
shall, from time to time, regulate representation according to 
population and wealth. 

" Gen. PiNCKNEY desired that the rule of wealth should be 
ascertained, and not left to the pleasure of the legislature ; 
and that property in slaves should not be exposed to danger, 



nOAY IT WAS CREATED. 45 

under a government instituted for the protection of pro- 
perty. 

" The first clause in the report of the first Grand Commit- 
tee was postponed. 

" Mr. Ellsworth, of Connecticut, in order to carry into 
effect the principle established, moved to add to the last clause 
adopted by the House, the words following: 'And that the 
rule of taxation, for the support of the government of the 
United States, shall be the number of white inhabitants, and 
three-fifths of every other description in the several States, 
until some other rule, that shall more accurately ascertain the 
wealth of the several States, can be devised and adopted by 
the legislature.' 

" Mr. Butler seconded the motion, in order that it might 
be committed. 

" Mr. Randolph was not satisfied with the motion. The 
danger will be revived, that the ingenuity of the legislature 
may evade or pervert the rule, so as to perpetuate the power 
where it shall be lodged in the first instance. He proposed, 
in lieu of Mr. Ellsworth's motion, ' that, in order to ascertain 
the alterations in representation that may be required, from 
time to time, by changes in the relative circumstances of the 
States, a census shall be taken within two years from the 
first meeting of the general legislature of the United States, 

and once within the term of every years afterwards, of 

all the inhabitants, and in the manner, and according to the 
ratio recommended by Congress in their resolution of the 18th 
day of April, 1783, (rating the blacks at three-fifths of their 
number) ; and that the legislature of the United States shall 
arrange the representation accordingly.' He urged strenu- 
ously^ that express security ought to he provided for including 
slaves in the ratio of representation. He lamented that such a 
species of property existed. But, as it did exist, the holders of 
it would require this security. It was perceived that the de- 
sign was entertained, by some, of excluding slaves altogether. 
The legislature, therefore, ought not to be left at liberty. 



46 THE SECTIONAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

" Mr. Ellsworth -withdraws his motion, and seconds that 
of Mr. Randolph. 

Mr. Wilson observed, that less umbrage would, perhaps, 
be taken against an admission of the slaves into the rule of 
representation, if it should be so expressed as to make them 
indirectly only an ingredient in the rule, by saying that they 
should enter into the rule of taxation ; and, as representation 
was to be according to taxation, the end would be equally 
attained. He accordingly proposed an amendment embodying 
this alteration. 

" Mr. King. Although this amendment varies the aspect 
somewhat, he had still two powerful objections against tying 
down the legislature to the rule of numbers ; first, they were 
at this time an uncertain index of the relative wealth of the 
States; secondly, if they were a just index at this time, it 
cannot be supposed always to continue so. He was far from 
wishing to retain any unjust advantage whatever in one part 
of the Republic. If justice was not the basis of the connec- 
tion, it could not be of long duration. He must be short- 
sighted, indeed, who does not foresee that, wl«inever the 
Southern States shall be more numerous than the Northern, 
they can, and will, hold a language that will awe them into 
justice. If they threaten to separate now, in case injury shall 
he done them, will their threats he less urgent or effectual when 
force shall hack their demands ? Even in the intervening 
period, there will he no point of time at which they will not he 
ahle to say, do us justice, or we ivill separate. He urged the 
necessity of placing confidence, to a certain degree, in every 
government, and. did not conceive that the proposed confi- 
dence, as to a periodical re-adjustment of the representation, 
exceeded that degree. 

" Mr. PiNCKNEY moved to amend Mr. Randolph's motion, 
so as to make ' blacks equal to whites in the ratio of represen- 
tation.' This, he urged, was nothing more than justice. The 
blacks are the laborers, the peasants, of the Southern States. 
They are as productive of pecuniary resources as those of the 



HOW IT WAS CREATED. 47 

Northern States. They add equally to the wealth, and, con- 
sidering money as the sinew of war, to the strength of the 
nation. It will also be politic with regard to the Northern 
States, as taxation is to keep pace with representation. 

" Gen. PiNCKNEY moved to insert six years instead of two, 
as the period, computing from the first meeting of the legis- 
lature, within which the first census should be taken." 

General Pinckney's motion was adopted. That of Mr. 
Chas. Pinckney was rejected. On the question on the whole 
proposition, as proportioning representation to direct taxation, 
and both to the white and three-fifths of the black inhabitants, 
and requiring a periodical census, six States voted in the affirm- 
ative, two, only, in the negative. 

It is to be remarked of this debate, that the idea of pro- 
portioning representation to wealth was in the ascendant. This 
will account for the change of position on the part of Mr. 
Charles Pinckney, one of the proposers of the three-fifths 
ratio. It is manifest, that when you take population as the 
measure of wealth, that every description of population would 
have to be included — as well the black as the white. This 
explains the readiness with which the delegates from South 
Carolina accepted that proposition — inasmuch as that would 
have created a Southern preponderance in the government. 
But a sectional preponderance, created by whatever means, 
was not the object of search of a majority of the States — par- 
ticularly of the State of Virginia. It appears to have been 
the conviction that an inequality, in favor of or against either 
of the parties, would doom the Union to a short existence. 
That a sectional domination, although it rested on superior 
wealth, would not reconcile either the North or the South to 
the grievous yoke. 

'' Friday, July 13th. 
" On motion of Mr. Randolph, the vote of Monday last, 
authorizing the Legislature to adjust, from time to time, the 
representation upon the principles of wealth and numbers of 



48 THE SECTIONAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

inhabitants, was reconsidered by common consent, in order to 
strike out wealth and adjust the resolution to that requiring 
periodical revisions, according to the number of whites and 
three-fifths of the blacks. 

" Mr. GouvERNEuii Morris opposed the alteration, as leaving 
• still an incoherence. If negroes were to be viewed as inhabi- 
tants, and the revision was to proceed on the principle of 
numbers of inhabitants, they ought to be added in their entire 
number, and not in the proportion of three-fifths. If as pro- 
V perty, the word wealth Was right; and striking it out Avould 
produce the very inconsistency which it was meant to get rid 
of. The train of business and the late turn which it had taken, 
had led him, he said, into deep meditation on it, and he would 
candidly state the result. A distinction had been set up, and 
\/ urged, between the Northern and Southern States. He had, 
hitherto, considered this doctrine as heretical. He still thought 
the distinction groundless. He sees, however, that it is per- 
sisted in; and the Southern gentlemen will not be satisfied 
unless they see the way open to their gaining a majority in 
the public councils. The consequence of such a transfer of 
power from the maritime to the interior and landed interest, will, 
he foresees, be such an oppression to commerce that he shall he 
obliged to vote for the vicious jyrincijyle of equality in the second 
branch^ in order to provide some defence for the Northern States 
against it. But to come more to the point, either this distinc- 
tion is fictitious or real; if fictitious, let it be dismissed, and 
let us proceed with due confidence. If it be real, instead of 
attempting to blend incompatible things, let us at once take 
([_^'' a friendly leave of each other. There can be no end of de- 
mands for security, if every particular interest is entitled to it. 
The Eastern States may claim it for their fishery, and for other 
objects, as the Southern States claim it for their peculiar 
objects. In this struggle between the two ends of the Union, 
what part ought the Middle States, in point of policy, to take? 
To join their Eastern brethren, according to his ideas. If the 
Southern States get the power in their hands, and be joined, 



!» 



HOW IT WAS CREATED. 49 

as they will be, with the interior country, they will inevitably 
bring on a war with Spain for the Mississippi. This language 
is already held. The interior country, having no property or 
interest exposed on the sea, will be little affected by such a 
war. He wished to know what security the Northern and 
Middle States will have against this danger. It has been said 
that North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia, only, will 
in a little time have a majority of the people of America, they 
must in that case include the great interior country, and every 
thing was to be apprehended from their getting the power into 
their hands. 

"Mr. Butler. The security the Southern States want 
is, that their negroes may not be taken from them, which some 
gentlemen within or without doors have a very great mind to 
do. It was not supposed that North Carolina, South Carolina ; 
and Georgia would have more people than all the other States, f 
but many more relatively to the other States, than they now 
have. The people and strength of America are evidently / / 
bearing southwardly and south-westwardly." 

The proposition of Mr. Randolph passed, Delaware only 
voting against it, and Delaware was divided. Thus, after a 
sectional collision that equalled in violence any that we have 
witnessed in our day, the compromise, as originally proposed, 
with the single addition of a periodical census, Avas adopted 
into the Constitution. It is not too much to call that compro- 
mise, in virtue of which power was ratably distributed between 
the North and South, the ground-work of the whole system. 

But the quarrel between the sections was not yet ended. 
It broke out again when representation in the Senate came to 
be adjusted. The delegates from the smaller States made a 
firm stand for their cherished principle of equality of repre- 
sentation in that chamber of the Legislature. Luther Martin 
here rose in the ascendant, but he was vigorously opposed by 
Mr. Madison, who struggled to apply the sectional compromise 
throughout the government. His speech was an able one. In 
it he stated five objections to the principle of State equality, 
4 



50 THE SECTIONAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

the fifth being — " The perpetuity it would give to the Northern 
against the Southern scale, was a serious consideration. It 
seemed now to he pretty well understood that the real differ- 
ence of interest lay, not between the large and small, but 
between the Northern and Southern States. The institution 
of slavery, and its consequences, formed the line of discrimi- 
nation. There were five States on the Southern, eight on the 
Northern side of this line. Should a proportional represen- 
tation take place, it ivas t)'ue, the Northern would still out- 
number the other ; but not in the same degree, at this time ; 
and every day would tend towards an equilibrium." It 
is believed, if to the evidences contained in the debates 
heretofore submitted, this speech of Mr. Madison be added, 
that no doubt can remain on any reasonable mind as to the 
object of the fractional representation. 

In his endeavor to extend the equilibrium to the Senate, 
Mr. Madison failed. But it must have been apparent to his 
mind, that enough had been gained already to provide for the 
safety of the South. The great sectional struggle was over, 
the distribution of federal population between the sections 
had been settled. That struggle had resulted to the satisfac- 
tion of the South. They, who were so wise in all things else, 
must have foreseen that finally power in the Senate would be 
according to population, and for that reason, doubtless, the 
Southern leaders were content to allow a temporary Northern 
preponderance in that branch of the Legislature. Although 
the smaller States talked about a withdrawal from the Con- 
vention if their demands were not complied with, it was still 
apparent that, disconnected as they were territorially, that no 
such result would follow in the event upon which they threat- 
ened to act. It is an interesting part of the history of the 
Constitution, to enquire by what influences the Senatorial 
equality was in the end produced. It was produced by the 
jealousy of the Northern section. It will be remembered, 
that in the outset the larger States of the North co-operated 
with the slave section against the equality claimed throughout 



HOW IT WAS CREATED. Si 

the government by the lesser States. But this alliance did 
not last long. It gave rise to sectional jealousies. After the 
fractional representation had been agreed upon, it appears to 
have been apprehended by some that it would result in creat- 
ing a Southern preponderance in the government. As had 
been intimated by Mr. Gouverneur Morris, the large States 
of the North wheeled into line with the small States, and car- 
ried the principle of Senatorial equality, " to provide some 
defence for the Northern States against " the evils which were 
apprehended from the government being put under Southern 
control. This is revealed not only by the debates above cited, 
but also by a note appended by Mr. Madison. 



CHAPTER III. 



There is nothing more unlike than analogy, and nothing more apt to mislead. 

Mansfield. 

They commit the whole to the mercy of untried speculations ; they abandon the dear- 
est interests of the public to those loose theories, to which none of them would choose to 
trust the slightest of his private concerns. — Borke. 

When the ratio of three-fifths was proposed by Wilson and 
Pinckney as a mode of dividing political power between the 
North and South in even proportions, it was stated to have been 
selected because that ratio had been proposed by Congress as 
a measure of taxation. It is a necessary inference that it 
was believed that it would be productive of an equal distri- 
bution of the burdens of government between thos3 sections. 
But we are not left to surmise, for Mr. Gorham explicitly 
stated that it had been devised by Congress because it would 
result in giving that " proportion " of taxes. 

As soon as the North and South, in the Convention of 1776, 
undertook to construct a federal government, the question of 
slavery presented itself at the threshold — but it presented 



62 THE SECTIONAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

itself as a question of taxation. The committee appointed to 

draught a constitution proposed, in the eleventh article, that 

r the expenses of the government should be defrayed out of a 

\l treasury to be supplied by the States, in proportion to the 
number of inhabitants of every sex, age and condition, except 
Indians not paying taxes. The obvious effect of that pro- 
vision would have been to throw on the slave States the largest 
share of taxation, on account of their superior populousness. 
It was, consequently, objected to, and Mr. Chase, of Mary- 
land, proposed to proportion taxes according to white popu- 
lation. But that would have laid on the North an unequal 
share of the taxes. The debate appears to have been both 
able and animated. Mr. Harrison, of Virginia, at length pro- 
posed, "as a compromise," that two slaves should be counted 
as one freeman. But the amendment was lost ; the whole 
North voting against it, the whole South voting for it. An- 
other measure of taxation was, subsequently, agreed upon, 

^ •which, after trial, gave satisfaction to neither party. Con- 
gress again reverted to Mr. Harrison's proposition — which they 
slightly modified and recommended to the States — so to alter 
the Federal Articles as to proportion the quotas among the 
States according to the whole number of free inhabitants, and 
three-fifths of the slaves. The outline of the debate upon 
that subject, as preserved by Madison, shows that the phrase, 
"equilibrium of taxation," was as familiar as the probable 
results of that ratio, as that of an equilibrium of representa- 
tion afterwards became. 

The fractional basis of three-fifths being, in the first place, 
resorted to as a mode of distributing taxes between the sec- 
tions, was, afterwards, taken up and applied to the distribu- 
tion of political power between them. Strange would it have 
been, if it had proved applicable to subjects so opposite in 
their nature ; taxation being a charge and disability, whilst 
representation was, in its nature, power and privilege, and 
might, if adroitly used, be made the means of exemption. As 
a measure of taxation, it might answer well ; for there would 



^/ 



HOW IT AVAS CREATED. 53 

be neither inducement nor power to overthrow it ; but, as a 
measure of political influence, there was every conceivable 
motive to induce each party to conspire against it. Nor did 
the arrangement, so cunningly contrived, that direct taxes 
should be determined by representation, operate as any kind 
of check ; for if population was, in truth, a criterion of social 
■wealth, which was the general opinion, the capacity to pay 
would be enlarged as federal numbers were increased. The 
whole scheme failed, as we know, so soon as direct taxes 
ceased to be the means of collecting the revenue ; but, even if 
that had not taken place, and the government had been con- 
fined to direct taxation, the idea embodied in the basis of 
representation would not the less have been disappointed. It 
is a subject which may well excite surprise, that the Conven- 
tion, constituted as it was, should have been deceived by so 
superficial a resemblance. 

It is proper to call attention here to the explanation which 
was given by Alexander Hamilton, in the New York Conven- 
tion of ratification, of the fractional representation of slaves ; 
more especially as it was repeated in the Federalist : 

"The regulations complained of," said he, "was one result 
of the spirit of accommodation which governed the Conven- 
tion ; and, without this indulgence, no Union could possibly 
have been formed. ****** ^jjg j^gg^ writers on gov- 
ernment have held that representation should be compounded 
of persons and property. This rule has been adopted, as far 
as it could be, in the constitution of New York. It will, 
however, by no means, be admitted, that the slaves are con- 
sidered altogether as property. They are men, though de- 
graded to the condition of slavery. * They are persons known 



* Here is what the Federalist says, No. 54: "Let the case of the slaves 
be considered, as in truth it is, a peculiar one. Let the compromising expe- 
dient of the Constitution be mutually adopted, which regards them as inhabi- 
tants, but as debased, by servitude, below the equal level of free inhabitants, 
which regards the slave as divested of two-fifths of the man." He who has 
perused the Debates of the Convention, preserved by Mr. Madison's own pen* 



54 THE SECTIONAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

to the municipal laws of the States which they inhabit, as well 
as to the laws of nature." 

Two explanations are here offered, but inconsistent with 
each other. If any proposition is clear beyond controversy, 
it is the one that slaves were admitted in the single character 
of population, they being, as Gen. Pinckney called them, the 
black peasantry of the South. Nor were they partially ex- 
cluded from representation because of their supposed infe- 
riority to the white peasant of the North, but their partial 
exclusion was insisted upon by one party, and assented to by 
the other, because of the effect which such exclusion would 
produce upon the partition of power. There could not be a 
more conclusive argument against the exclusion of the slave, 
because of moral inferiority, than the fact that the free negro, 
"wherever he might be, was admitted to the full privileges of 
representation. 



may •well be surprised at this extraordinary interpretation of the fractional 
basis. How was it ascertained that the slave was less, by two-fifths, a man 
than the free negro in America, or the wild cannibal negro in Africa? 

The controversial character of the Federalist is evidenced by the contradic- 
tory grounds it sometimes assumed ; and its sectional complexion is as un- 
doubted. It was addressed to the people of the State of New York, and only 
particular numbers of it were republished in the South. This explanation of 
the sectional basis was accommodated to the temper of an anti-slavery popu- 
lation. It certainly was wholly the offspring of imagination. 



HOW IT WAS CREATED. 55 

CHAPTER IV. 

VIRGINIA. 

Like a stately ship 

Of Tarsus, bound for th' isles 

Of Javan or Gadire, 

With all her bravery on, and tackle trim, 

Sails fiird, and streamers waving. 

Courted by all the winds that hold them play.— Samson AgoSistes. 

When, in 1788, the Convention of Virginia adopted the Federal Government as a part of 
her Constitution, they effected a greater change in our Constitution than the wildest 
reformer now suggests to us. To estimate the amount of that change, we must have refer- 
ence to her interests and power at that day. — John Randolph, of Roanoke. 

When I call this the most mighty State in the Union, do I not speak the truth ? Does 
not Virginia surpass every State in the Union in the number of inhabitants, extent of 
territory, felicity of position, in affluence and wealth ? — Henrt. 

In Virginia, the new Constitution underwent the severest 
ordeal. The opposition was led by men of the most distin- 
guished abilities, the largest knowledge, the highest dignity 
and the most splendid public services. Among its advocates, 
too, were to be found men of the first order of talent. In the 
Debates of the Virginia Convention of Ratification (imper- 
fectly reported as they have been), posterity will find the prin- 
ciples of that instrument most thoroughly exposed, and there, 
as in the leaves of the Sybil, are many of those predictions 
found, the verification of which has been reserved until the pre- 
sent day. There the battle of the Constitution was fought, 
and there the victory won ; but won by means which redound 
but little to the honor of the chief actors in those scenes. 
When the Convention assembled six States had ratified the 
Constitution; during its session Maryland and South Carolina* 
ratified, and its adoption by Virginia breathed life into the 



* New Hampshire had ratified the Constitution about ten days before the 
adjournment of the Virginia Convention, but the information had not reached 
Richmond. — Madison to Washington of that date. — Corresjiondence of the 
Revolution. 



56 THE SECTIONAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

new government. Had the decision there been different, the 
Constitution as it is, and as it has existed for the ruin of that 
lordly Commonwealth, would have been rejected. It would 
have been committed to a new Convention, its national fea- 
tures would have been purged off, and the Articles of Confed- 
eration, based upon purely federal principles, but amended in 
those particulars wherein experience had showed amendment 
to be necessary, would have been presented to the people of 
the several States. This the simple negative of Virginia 
would have produced ; for no federal system, however devised, 
could have sustained itself that did not embrace her. The 
contest over the Constitution stirred the popular elements from 
the bottom ; and that we may be able more justly to appre- 
ciate the nature of that mighty conflict, it will be neces- 
sary, first to take a survey of the theatre upon which it took 
place. 

Virginia, between the termination of the war of the Revo- 
lution and the creation of the existing central authority, has 
been but little sought after, and is but little known. That 
period is generally regarded as a dark interval in her history, 
either as a chaos or a waste from which little is to be gathered 
to reward the researches of the student or excite the atten- 
tion of the curious. A deep gulf, indeed, divides it from 
present times — a mighty Revolution ; but, yet, to that desolate 
waste, that unvisited region, the steps of the reader are now 
invited. But our trouble will not be without its reward. If I 
mistake not, those times, upon a closer inspection, will appear 
to have been the most glorious in the annals of that State, and 
to have rendered her, indeed, worthy of that distinguished 
position, which, by common consent, had been conceded to her 
among the confederated sovereignties of North America. 
From that altitude, like a stricken orb, she has slowly de- 
scended, until her loyal children, with grief and indignation, 
behold her ready to sink below the horizon shorn of her 
beams. 

The limits of Virginia embraced at this time Kentucky. 



HOW IT WAS CREATED. 57 

Kentucky, it is true, had petitioned for an independent estab- 
lishment, and her prayer had been granted, but subject to the 
concurrence of the federal authority. Clogged with that con- 
dition, the grant had been rejected; for the people of that 
province preferred the old connection rather than have its 
abrogation made a subject of congressional license.* Indeed, 
the consent to its admission into the Union appears to have 
been given by Congress ; but, for some cause, had not been 
accepted or acted upon. The number of its inhabitants 
amounted to sixty thousand, and was from time to time receiv- 
ing additions from the more populous parts of Eastern Vir- 
ginia. Louisville was the principal town, indeed, the only one 
laid down on the maps of that period. But, as yet, Kentucky 
was embraced by the geography of Virginia ; her delegates 
and senators resorted annually to Richmond ; she received 
from thence her laws and her justice; she contributed an 
important element to the military and voting strength of the 
parent State ; and for her loyal obedience, her distinct interests, 
■which were strongly marked, received that vigilant attention 
which the concerns of an affectionate daughter merited from 
a fond and indulgent mother. On this, the most interesting 
occasion in the history of either, the delegates from Kentucky 
sat on the floor of the Convention, and exercised an important 
influence on the late deliberations of that body. 

The late war had brought evil times upon Virginia. It had 
operated a total suspension of her foreign trade, the only 
source from which she derived money, as well as many of the 
comforts and all the elegant luxuries of life. The government 
had been compelled in consequence to resort to the cumbrous 
and expensive expedient of specific supplies, as a mode of 
contributing to the defence of the country. But when peace 
was published and the sea cleared of British cruisers, business, 
to some extent, revived. A gentle tide of prosperity set in, 
which was exhibited by the regularity with which her federal 

* Madison to WasLington, 9th December, 1785. 



68 THE SECTIONAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

quotas were contributed, and Tvhich surpassed in amount the 
sum furnished during that period by the entire North. Whilst 
peace had restored, in some measure, prosperity to Virginia, 
it brought nothing but disaster to the North ; as the "war had 
brought nothing but disaster to Virginia, but had conferred 
upon the North equivalents and compensating advantages. 
It is a fact deserving attention, that the Revolution, which 
brought business to a dead halt in the South, should, strangely 
enough, have buojed it up in the North, and that peace, which 
brought healing on its wings to the one, should have blighted 
the whole industry of the other. The North had been the prin- 
cipal theatre of the war, and, consequently, the principal thea- 
tre of all the disbursements of both the English and American 
governments. Thus it happened that those thrifty patriots 
were enabled, by an ingenious chemistry, to distill the mate- 
rials of prosperity even out of the misfortunes of their coun- 
try. It happened in this wise : During the whole contest, a 
brisk, lucrative and systematic traffic was kept up by the 
country people with the British lines. So extensive was the 
scale upon which it was conducted, that the General-in-chief, 
lamenting the wide-spread depravity, apprehended that by its 
means the contest would be prolonged, and the success even 
of the cause endangered. Every description of men were 
engaged in those contraband dealings — Whigs and Tories, 
King's-men and Patriots, Priests and Laymen. Every corpo- 
ral's tent was a bazaar. They bought and they sold as in 
peace, and, encouraged by universal example, they scarcely 
drew the veil of secrecy over their proceedings. 

Washington would distress the enemy by day, but the 
country people would supply them by night with those com- 
forts which, in an enemy's country, an array most requires. 
Thus the advantages of "a home market" were first im- 
pressed upon the Northern mind. The farmer reaped the 
whole profit, for, dispensing with the merchant, he dealt face 
to face with the enemies of his country. None were found 
able to resist the strong appetite for British gold; the national 



HOW IT WAS CREATED. 59 

instinct was irresistible, and the illegality of the transaction 
but lent to it a keener relish. 

The principal exports of Virginia were tobacco, wheat and 
Indian corn ; but tobacco, out of all comparison, held the first 
place. The cultivation of that plant had, however, begun to 
decline. This was referable to the low price to which that 
commodity had fallen, its producers not being able to aiford 
those manures which had become necessary, after the virgin 
properties had been .extracted from the earth. The condition 
of the tobacco market gave birth, as we shall see, to political 
consequences of the most important nature. To the value of 
tobacco, which lay at the basis of her prosperity, Virginia had 
always been sensitive — the commercial monopoly, to which it 
had been subjected by the policy of the British government, 
having entered prominently into the causes of the Revolution 
itself. No one can peruse the history of that quarrel without 
perceiving the anxiety of the British cabinet to retrace the 
false step it had taken in American affairs, and its willingness 
to make any concessions compatible with the dignity of the 
government and its general supremacy over the colonies. 
But all compromise was defeated by the American leaders, 
because the monopoly of their trade had become incompatible 
with the growth and prosperity of the colonies. The intole- 
rable nature of this burden is forcibly presented in the follow- 
ing extract from the writings of Edmund Burke : 

" These colonies were evidently founded in subservience to 
the commerce of Great Britain. From this principle, the 
whole system of our laws concerning them became a system 
of restriction. A double monopoly was established on the 
part of the parent country : 1. A monopoly of their whole 
import, which is to be altogether from Great Britain. 2. A 
monopoly of all their export, which is to be nowhere but to 
Great Britain, as far as it can serve any purpose here. On 
the same idea, it was contrived that they should send all their 
products to us raw, and in their first state, and that they 
should take every thing from us in the last stage of manufac- 



60 THE SECTIONAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

ture. Were ever a people under such circumstances, that is, 
a people "who were to export raw, and to receive manufac- 
tured, and this, not a few luxurious articles, but all articles 
even to those of the grossest, most vulgar and necessary 
consumption — a people who were in the hands of a general 
monopolist — were ever such a people suspected of a possi- 
bility of becoming a just object of revenue ? * * * * 
Are not these schemists well apprised that the colonists, par- 
ticularly those of the Northern provinces, import more from 
Great Britain, ten times more, than they send in return to us? 
That a great part of their foreign balance is, and must be, 
remitted to London ? I shall be ready to admit that the colo- 
nies ought to be taxed to the revenues of this country, when 
I know they are out of debt to its commerce. * * * But 
he tells us that ' their seas are covered with ships, and their 
rivers floating with commerce.' This is true. But it is with 
our ships that the seas are covered; and their rivers float with 
British commerce. The American merchants are our factors, 
all in reality, most even in name. * * * * "\Yg have 
all, except the peculium ; without which, even slaves will not 
labor." 

To break through this double monopoly, and obtain the 
freedom of the general market, constituted the true cause of 
the Revolution.* Threats of taxation served but to rouse the 
people. When aroused, nothing short of free commerce could 



* This is not the prevalent belief as to the origin of the Revolution ; but 
yet I was convinced that it was the true one, from perusing the works of Mr. 
Burke. I was well pleased to discover that this opinion was entertained by 
so commanding an authority as Mr. Webster. " It was easy," says Mr. 
Webster, " to foresee, what we know also to have happened, that the first 
great cause of collision and jealousy would be, under the notion of political 
economy then and still prevalent in Europe, an attempt on the part of the 
mother country to monopolize the trade of the colonies. Whoever has looked 
deeply into the causes which produced our Revolution has found, if I mistake 
not, the original principle far back in this claim on the part of England, to 
monopolize our trade, and a continued effort on the part of the colonies to 
resist or evade that monopoly." — First Settlement of New England— 
Works, vol. 1, p. 24, 



HOW IT WAS CREATED. 61 

allay the popular ferment. But the Revolution had not borne 
its promised fruits, and the trade of America was in a worse 
condition than before the war. The commercial monopoly, 
though abolished in law, existed in fact ; but existed under a 
greatly aggravated form. As the prospect of a free com- 
merce had impelled Virginia in the paths of the Revolution, 
we shall presently see that the same motive induced her to 
propose organic reforms in the federal system. 

Domestic tranquility reigned within the border of Virginia. 
The authority of law was every where firmly established. 
Lying on the Northern rim of the slave section, her internal 
peace stood in striking contrast with the volcanic condition of 
the North. This fact connected itself with the subject of its 
deliberations, and was strongly developed in the debates of 
the Convention. The advocates of the new government at- 
tempted to establish, in debate, that the condition of things in 
Virginia, as well as in the North, required a strong external 
authority. In order to maintain their position, they resorted 
to the case of Josiah Philips ; but the case of Josiah Philips 
did not sustain their position. Josiah Philips had been at- 
tainted by act of the legislature, declared to be an outlaw, 
and was, without the ceremonies of a legal trial, * afterwards 
executed. This instance of irregularity in the execution of 
justice, in florid and exaggerated rhetoric, Gov. Randolph 
related. But Henry, ever the good angel of Virginia, ex- 
plained the facts of this attainder. Josiah Philips was a fugi- 
tive, an outlaw, a murderer, and the chief of a band of rob- 
bers. At a time when the war was at the most perilous stage, 
he broke loose on the community, committing the most shock- 
ing barbarities. The case was an unusual one, and justified 
swift and stern measures. " A pirate, an outlaw, a common 
enemy to mankind, may be put to death at any time. It is 
justified by the law of nature and of nations." 

* Howison, in his History of Virginia, giveis a different account of this 
transaction, but, for obvious reasons, I stick to the version of it given in the 
Convention. I do not enter into the question of historical accuracy. 



62 THE SECTIONAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

"When two witnesses, like Henry and Randolph, confront 
each other with opposite statements, it may not be deemed 
unnecessary or irrelevant if the balance is cast by one, the 
accuracy of whose observations, and the sober verity of whose 
statements will command the implicit confidence of mankind. 
In a letter addressed to David Humphreys, two years pre- 
vious to this time, after describing the distracted condition of 
New England, Washington thus speaks of Virginia. It is a 
picture of dignified repose, and I would that it were imprinted 
on the minds of this generation of her children. ^'' Peace and 
tranquility prevail in this State. The Assembly, hy a very 
great majority and in very emphatic term,s, have rejected an 
application for paper money, and spurned the idea of fixing 
the value of military certificates hy a scale of depreciation. 
In some other respects, too, the presetit session has been 
marked with justice, and a strong desire of supporting the 
federal system." Did such a community require the strong 
hand of a national government ? 

All the sources of revenue were open to the Assembly ; 
that of direct taxation, -which she did not share with Congress, 
and the custom-house, over which she exercised exclusive con- 
trol. The receipts from these sources, even in the crippled 
condition of her trade, were great enough to induce Virginia 
to undertake a system of public works on the grandest scale. 

There is not to be found a surer indication of prosperity, 
and the healthfulness of the public mind, than that works of 
public utility engage the general attention. This criterion 
may, with advantage, be applied to Virginia at this period. 
A revisal and codification of her laws had been recently 
accomplished, and enlarged plans for internal development 
had been formed and begun. She had entered on a splendid 
career with a strong and steady march. 

The war was but just ended, when Washington, with a mind 
ever occupied with the welfare of his country, called to his 
fellow-citizens, amid their rejoicings, to take counsel about the 
future interests of the young Commonwealth which the for- 



HOW IT WAS CREATED. 63 

tune of arms had committed to their custody. Convinced of 
the inestimable advantages resulting from a prosperous and 
independent trade, and perceiving that upon it depended the 
value of agriculture, that truly great statesman, whilst the 
sound of the bugle yet lingered on the air, exerted himself to 
place the commercial interests of his country on a firm and 
lasting foundation. His plans were comprehensive and prac- 
tical. That the reservoir of commerce might be deepened and 
enlarged, he proposed to create new tributaries. 

To this end he devised and recommended a system of inter- 
nal improvement, at once comprehensive and minute, which, 
as it was developed, would furnish means for its own comple- 
tion. Each stream was to be explored, and, as far as practi- 
cable, its navigation improved, canals were to be opened, and a 
spreading net-work of roads established and maintained at the 
public charge. But his views were not confined by the limits 
of the State, nor to the single and primary object of develop- 
ing her internal resources. His purpose was to render Vir- 
ginia the commercial empire of America — to render her the 
great maritime power of the AYestern hemisphere, and conse- 
quently its political centre. Looking beyond the Appalachian 
mountains, he estimated at its proper value, the contributions 
to commerce of that interior empire, bounded on the north 
and west by the Mississippi and the Lakes. He desired, 
•whilst things were in the germ, to forestall competition, and 
to direct that fertilizing stream through Virginia into the 
waters of the Chesapeake. That one of the maritime States, 
which should win that inestimable prize, he clearly foresaw 
would contain the entrepot, and conduct the commercial trans- 
actions of North America. Destitute of a sea front, it was 
clear to his mind that the great West would decide between 
those jealous commercial rivals. Thus convinced, Washing- 
ton did not, fatigued with the exercises of war, stop to recruit 
his wearied virtue amid the slumbering groves of Mount Ver- 
non; but, inured to exertion and qualified for action, he at 
once began to realize his profound speculations. His old, but 



64 THE SECTIONAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

unforgotten project, which had been thrust aside by the war, 
of uniting the Bay of Chesapeake, by her two great arms, the 
the James and Potomac rivers, with the Ohio, was revived. 
Extending his comprehensive plan to the Lakes, he believed it 
practicable to drain even their commerce into the same great 
basin. The fur trade* was the immediate prize at which he 
aimed. 

Nor were events inauspicious. The western posts still re- 
tained by the British, held the activity of New York in check. 
Pennsylvania, torn by faction and threatened with dismember- 
ment, was in no condition to enter into the contest for the 
western trade, and evidence is adduced in the writings of 
Washington to show that the inhabitants of the western 
counties of that State were all so favorable to the Virginia 
plan that they were ready to coerce their government to ac- 
quiesce in, if not facilitate, its execution, so far as the waters 
of Pennsylvania were to be employed. The Mississippi was 
closed by the short-sighted policy of Spain. Nor was Wash- 
ington desirous that the impediments to its navigation should 
be removed until his own plan should open a commercial outlet 
on the Atlantic. Here was a happy concurrence of events, 
and it was only necessary for Virginia to improve the occasion 
and grasp the coveted prize. 

To secure immediate action, he enlisted the influential char- 
acters of Maryland and Virginia in behalf of this enterprise, 
and his correspondence exhibits abundant proof of the vigor 
and perseverance with which he prosecuted his object. In 
Virginia alone, there were Henry, Jefferson, Grayson, the 
Lees, Harrison, Madison. In order to throw the full weight 
of his influence in favor of his work, Washington encountered 
the fatigue of a personal exploration. He inspected the several 
routes and estimated the extent of the obstacles with which 



* Mr. Jefferson mentions in his correspondence ■whilst at the French court, 
that a French Company proposed to make Alexandria the Eastern depot of 
the fur trade in which it proposed to embark. 



now IT WAS CREATED. 65 

they were beset. On his return to Mount Vernon, he addressed 
a letter to Gov. Harrison, in which the whole plan is unfolded 
in the most luminous manner, which, with the Executive sanc- 
tion, was laid before the Assembly. Advised by Washing- 
ton, advocated by Henry and Madison, and recommended by 
Harrison, the Assembly adopted it in all its parts. Nor was 
the action of Maryland less prompt. United to Virginia by 
friendship, ancient neighborhood and similarity of interests, 
the two governments combined their eflforts in the promotion 
of this enterprise. 

But Washington revolved even yet profounder thoughts, 
and aimed at political results of the highest importance to 
Virginia and the whole slave section. By means of those 
commercial connections the Western country would be united 
to the South in a compact of political matrimony. He said 
"commercial connections lead to others, and united are difficult 
to be broken." It was evident to his unclouded understand- 
ing that the seaboard States would necessarily be rivals, as 
then stood confessed, in respect to the western trade. Any 
union between the I^^orth and South would be purely of a 
political nature which temporary events and temporary sym- 
pathies might create, but which conflicting interests might at 
any time induce them to dissolve. Apart from their co-part- 
nership in the recent quarrel with Great Britain, there was in 
good truth no better reason for a political connection between 
the South and the maritime States of the North, than between 
either of those parties and Labrador or Canada. But with 
the West it was very different. The probability of these com- 
binations the matured wisdom of Washington beheld from 
afar. The drift of public affairs begins now to force them on 
the attention of his posterity, and a new union between the 
South and West will ere long be the absorbing question in 
American politics. There needs no higher illustration of the 
grandeur of his political speculations. 

The supervision of those works, so soon as they were deter- 
mined upon, was offered to Washington, and accepted by him, 
5 



66 THE SECTIONAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

and he entered upon the business with characteristic energy. 
In a letter to Jefferson, he says : " I divide my time between 
the superintendence of the opening of the navigation of our 
rivers and attention to my private concerns." 

He conceived and \Yas allowed to begin, but he was not suf- 
fered to prosecute that noble work. An event at this time 
occurred, which converted his reasonable expectations into gay 
illusions, and deserves to be reckoned the most disastrous in 
the annals of Virginia. The new Constitution was adopted, 
and Washington was arrested forever in his useful career. In 
the flower of his wisdom, and with physical energy unimpaired, 
he was carried off to discharge other duties amid other scenes. 
Henceforth that great man lost his peculiar identity with Vir- 
ginia — his nativity forgotten, he transferred his allegiance to 
another power. After him were carried off too, in a long 
unbroken line, generation after generation of the most gifted 
sons of Virginia. All that she has brought forth, that was 
great, wise and noble, has been swallowed up in the insatiable 
federal vortex. State interests forgotten, amid the rush of 
federal politics, her public works began to languish, and were 
soon abandoned. She no longer heard the cheerful voice of 
her Washington exciting her to laborious undertakings — to 
tunnel mountains, to span rivers and thread the depths of the 
trackless forest. Save Henrj'- alone, Avho was possessed of 
every qualification to shine in council or debate, not one was 
found with enough of the double gift of wisdom and public 
virtue to induce them to support the expiring fortunes of their 
country, or to enable them to turn away from the splendid 
prizes of federal ambition. Parties soon came to be formed 
with reference exclusively to federal tests, the Assembly was 
neglected, or was regarded as preparatory only to federal life, 
and was unvisited by great men, save when they resorted 
thither to forge weapons for the federal conflict. Her primary 
interests both at home and abroad neglected, then began the 
depopulation and decay of that Commonwealth, then sank into 
poverty and contempt the pride and champion of America. 



HOW IT WAS CREATED. 67 

Oil ! wbat a fall was there, my countrymen. 
Then you and I and all of us fell down, 
And bloody treason flourished over us. 

" Great men," says Burke, " are the ornaments and guides 
of the State," and no greater calamity can befall a State, 
•whatever be the frame of its government, than to be deprived 
of the services of those kingly spirits. They are the precious 
elixir which, ^vhen drawn off, the body politic tends to disinte- 
gration and decay. To understand, to advance, to har- 
monize the important and multifarious interests of a Com- 
monwealth like Virginia, demands the services of men of 
amplitude of mind, and instructed well in the school of polit- 
ical knowledge. This, if the Commonwealth stood alone and 
independent in the family of nations, in the full possession of 
all those rights and dignities which would appertain to her 
situation ; but her necessity for the vigilant patriotism of her 
most gifted men was re-doubled when she entered into polit- 
cal relations with an absorbing central government, under the 
control of a nation that has sought, and has almost produced, 
her downfall. 

The public councils have been given up to an order of men 
devoted to the special and immediate interests of the localities 
they represent, unmindful of those greater and more enduring 
interests upon which the welfare of the whole depends. They 
are ever pulling down and building up their domestic govern- 
ment, as though in the very spirit of wantonness, but shrink 
back from reforming that external government where reform 
is, indeed, necessary. 

A great writer has remarked, upon the generous patriotism 
which ennobles and inflames the mind of learned and wise 
statesmen, and on that steadfastness of purpose, amid political 
dangers, which belongs only to those skillful and practiced 
mariners of State, and the weak, selfish and vacillating coun- 
sels which spring from men of the common sort when they are 
advanced beyond the sphere of action to which nature as- 
signed them. " Learning endueth men's minds with a true 



68 THE SECTIONAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

sense of the frailty of their persons, the casualty of their for- 
tunes, and the dignity of their soul and vocation ; so that it is 
impossible for them to esteem that any greatness of their own 
fortune can he a true or worthy end of their being and ordain- 
ment ; and, therefore, are desirous to give their account to 
God, and so likewise to their masters under God, as kings and 
the States they serve ; whereas the corrupter sort of mere poll' 
ticians, that have not their thoughts established by learning in 
the love and apprehension of duty, nor ever look abroad into 
universality, do refer all things to themselves, and thrust 
themselves into the centre of the world, as if all lines should 
meet in them and their fortunes, — never caring, in all tem- 
pests, what becomes of the ship of State, so they may save 
themselves in the cock-boat of their own fortune ; whereas 
men that feel the weight of duty, and know the limits of self- 
love, use to make good their places and duties, though with 
peril ; and if they stand in seditious and violent alterations, 
it is rather the reverence which many times both adverse parts 
do give to honesty, than any versatile advantage of their own 
carriage." 

Upon the conclusion of peace, the fleets and armies of 
Great Britain had, indeed, been withdrawn, but hostilities were 
not yet over ; they had only assumed another and scarcely 
less harassing and dangerous form. Bafiled in field opera- 
tions. King George resorted to a subtle expedient to regain, 
or if that should prove impracticable, to destroy, his former 
subjects. It was but another manifestation of that cruel policy 
which had turned loose on defenceless communities the merci- 
less Indian, and endeavored to arm the slave against the life 
of his master. To the war of arms succeeded " a war of im- 
posts," the forcible language employed by Washington to de- 
scribe that belligerent policy. 

Before the war, the entire trade of the colonies, as described 
by Burke, had been centred in the British dominions. The 
channels through which it had flowed were worn deep, and 
though emancipated in law, it had not yet, to any considera- 



HOW IT WAS CREATED. 69 

ble extent, found other issues. It was resolved to afflict it 
with grievous burdens, and by that means destroy the profits 
of those employments by which that commerce was sustained. 
In this way the body of the nation would be reached, and the 
measures of retaliation felt in every fibre. Oppressed with 
debt, and their industry in ruins, it was confidently expected 
that the reign of anarchy would begin, to escape from which 
the discredited leaders of revolt and cherishers of sedition 
would be compelled, by an angry and suffering people, to seek 
a restoration of the old connection. As a branch of this cun- 
ning and deep-laid plan, the savages were again enlisted in. 
the service of the British Government. British agents were 
seen mysteriously to hover on the Western frontier, and soon 
the war-whoop broke the slumbers and disturbed the tran- 
quility of the border. Thus was the necessity of public 
defence superadded to the embarrassments of the people. 

In order to reconcile the British nation, ever sensitive to the 
interests of trade, to this suicidal method of warfare. Lord 
Sheffield published a pamphlet, in which, by the suppression of 
some facts, and the artful disposition of others, it was made 
to appear that the advantages of the American connection 
had been greatly overrated, and found more than an equiva- 
lent in the expenses incident to so extensive a colonial estab- 
lishment. But such artifices were discovered to be unnecessary, 
for the temper of the nation, fierce and sullen, was well dis- 
posed to the employment of harsh and vindictive measures. 
" That nation hates us, their ministers hate us, and their king 
more than all other men," is the strong and emphatic language 
of Jefferson. The American party, once so influential in the 
British Parliament, as well from its numbers as the rank and 
ability of its leaders, had silently disappeared. No party 
now advocated a liberal and friendly policy towards the suc- 
cessful rebels. Even the opposition concurred with the min- 
istry in this. The Marquis of Lansdowne, and a small knot 
of his friends, were well disposed to reciprocal intercourse 
with America; but the Marquis did not venture to express 



70 THE SECTIONAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

that opinion in parliament. The free trade policy, which had 
heen recommended and in part begun by Chatham, had been 
wholly abandoned. 

But in order to its success, it was indispensable that the 
principal States of the continent should acquiesce in that 
policy and adopt the same line of action. To create a general 
distrust of the stability of American affairs, false and exag- 
gerated statements — our ministers called them lies — were dili- 
gently circulated through the British press. These stories 
got into the continental newspapers, and went the round of 
Europe. A general determination was evinced to stand aloof 
from engagements with a weak, vacillating and irresponsible 
government, whose constituents were represented to be in a 
condition bordering on chaos. Thus were the ports of com- 
merce blockaded to the trade of the new-born Republic. In 
the meantime. King George, inexorable, was kept steady to 
the pursuit of his object. "If your majesty chooses, America 
may still be yours," was the comfortable assurance ever kept 
before the royal mind. The trade of America continued to 
be loaded with fresh exactions. This bellicose system began 
soon to produce the desired fruits. Popular discontents 
showed themselves throughout the Northern section, upon 
which it bore with peculiar hardship ; for Great Britain had 
furnished markets for more than three-fourths of the exports 
of the eight Northern States. In that part of the Union the 
voice of lamentation was indeed loud. Estimating all things, 
whether in heaven above, or the earth beneath, or in the 
waters under the earth, according to the money valuation, 
those zealous patriots had begun to repent them of their dear- 
bought independence, which had brought upon the country 
such times as had not visited it since the landing of the Pil- 
grims. With bitter and unavailing regret, they now remem- 
bered the good times when their products were received with- 
out charge in the ports of England. Their ablest public man 
was sent to London. But nothing could be done. John 
Adams attempted in vain to excite the compassion and relax; 



HOW IT WAS CREATED. 71 

the severity of his old master : America had broke loose from 
the British empire, had sought independence, had found it, 
and the king was resolved she should enjoy that blessing to 
its fullest extent. 

But it -was in New England, in the commonwealth of Mas- 
sachusetts, and from that centre branching into the adjoining 
States, that these distempers chiefly prevailed. They soon 
kindled into a rebellion, which, in the opinion of one of the 
ablest military men of that day, wanted only a leader of com- 
petent ability to be crowned with success.* As it was, the 
attempt to overthrow the government, and by its equal distri- 
bution to confiscate property, was only suppressed by a medi- 
tated intervention with federal troops. The force ordered by 
Congress was ostensibly to act against the Indians, but really 
to awe the insurgents of Massachusetts, and re-establish the 
authority of law. Shays' rebellion was produced by the se- 
verity of the commercial regulations of Great Britain, in co- 
operation with the exclusive policy prevalent elsewhere. Fish 
and the oil of fish, seventy years since, composed almost 
wholly the exports of that region, now the seat of opulence 
and power.f Anterior to the Revolution, a considerable 
amount of dried fish had been disposed of by the fish mer- 
chants of New England in the markets of the Mediterranean. 

* "I was then in Congres.*, and had a proper opportunity to know the cir- 
cumstances of this event. Had Shays been possessed of abilities, be might 
have established that favorite system of the gentleman, King, Lords and 
Commons. Nothing was wanting to bring about a revolution, but a great 
man to head the insurgents ; but, fortunately, be was a worthless captain. 
There were thirty thousand stand of arms nearly in his power, which were 
defended by a pensioner of this country. It would have been suiBcient had 
he taken this deposite. He failed in it; but even after that failure, it was in 
the power of a great man to have taken it. But Shays wanted design and 
knowledge." — Henry Lee, in the Va. Convention. 

f The fisheries were the great indraught of wealth of Massachusetts, if we 
except the slave trade, but had engendered a wretched population. John 
Adams thus speaks of that class: "The condition of the laboring poor in 
most countries, that of the fishermen, particularly, of the Northern States, is 
as abject as that of slaves." Massachusetts had fiirst planted the tree of free 
labor, and such was the fruit it had borne. 



72 THE SECTIONAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

But when the protection of the British flag was withdrawn, 
the gates of that sea were closed by the Corsairs of North 
Africa. Expelled from those waters, they found it impossible 
to dispose of the commodity elsewhere. 

But it was in striking the whale that those people had found 
their constant and most advantageous employment. Without 
the encouragement and support of bounties, the whale fisheries 
have ever been and are the poorest business into which a 
merchant or sailor can enter. If, instead of wages, the sailor 
takes part of the venture, he soon finds that it will not pay 
him for his labor, and the merchant that it will gradually sink 
the capital employed. In consequence, the nations who had 
tried it successively gave up the business to the fishermen of 
Nantucket and Cape Cod. These hardy mariners, owing to 
their proximity to the fishing ground, the poverty of their 
country, and the English bounties, had been enabled to prose- 
cute the fisheries with success. They had formerly employed 
in the whale trade alone more than three hundred vessels, but 
of that number, such was the blasting effect of the English 
duties, not one remained afloat. The duty upon foreign oils, 
among which those from the United States were now classed, 
amounted to a sum equal to the price for which they were 
sold, and were equivalent to a prohibition. The terms upon 
which they were received in other countries were almost as 
hard. The whale fisheries perished, and with them perished, 
in Massachusetts, that love of independence, order and mo- 
rality which had so honorably distintinguished the pioneers of 
Plymouth Rock. They did not rise from their ashes until, 
under the auspices of the present government, they were again 
allowed to feed ofi" the public treasury. A dissolution of the 
union with England, by suspending the bounty and closing 
the ports of that kingdom, bereft New England of all pros- 
perity,* and plunged her people into anarchy and civil war, 



* The Eastern States have lost every thing but their country and their 
freedom. It is notorious that some ports to the East-ward, which used to fit 



now IT WAS CREATED. 73 

as a dissolution of the union with the South, fi'om the opera- 
tion of simihir causes, will be productive of the same terrible 
results. Destitute of all natural resources, behold the weak- 
ness and dependence of New England ! Like the misletoe, 
she has ever thriven off the fatness of other communities. It 
will be well for the South, as it was a fortunate occurrence for 
the mother country, to be freed from the clasping arms of that 
parasite. 

But it was not in the Eastern States alone that those com- 
mercial restrictions were severely felt, though nowhere else 
were they attended by such unhappy consequences. Every 
part of the Union was keenly sensible of them. The flour and 
grain trade of the Middle States had been looking up ; it was 
prostrated to the earth ; nor did it again raise its head, until 
the desolating wars, which originated in the French Revolu- 
tion, had destroyed the husbandry of Europe. Then the grain 
trade recommenced, and those articles became important in 
the external commerce of the country. The tobacco and 
rice of the Southern section likewise met with but little favor 
from British tariffs. Upon the first, the duty, with port 
charges added, was about equal to the price, and the second 
was so heavily taxed as to prevent it from entering into gene- 
ral use. The continental tariffs bore with an equal weight 
upon them. Thus the nations of Europe were banded in a 
commercial league against America. 

In this gloomy state of affairs, Congress turned their atten- 
tion to France, and endeavored, by negotiation and treaty, to 
soften the rigor of her commercial system. In that quarter, 
it was believed, something might be done to relieve the gene- 
ral distress. To divide the commerce of America with Eng- 
land was known to have constituted a principal motive with 
the French cabinet, in forming the military pact during the 

out one hundred and fifty sail of vessels, do not now fit out thirty ; that their 
trade of ship-buiiding, which used to be very considerable, is now annihi- 
lated; that their fisheries are trifling, and their mariners in want of bread! — 
Gen. Pinckney in Leyislature of South Carolina, Jan. 1788. 



74 THE SECTIONAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

troubles of the Revolution. The most accomplished man in all 
America was chosen to conduct that delicate and important 
negotiatioft. To a conciliating address and great good temper, 
Mr. Jefferson united a varied knowledge and a thorough 
acquaintance with the public interests. His understanding 
was at once comprehensive and acute, and he spoke the 
French tongue with grace and fluency. Thus qualified, thus 
accomplished, thus adorned, he appeared at the court of 
Louis XVI. and opened negotiations with the Count de Ver- 
gennes, then at the helm of affairs. It appears to have been 
the general expectation in both countries, that a great trade 
would grow up between the late allies, to which their cordial 
feelings, as well as their respective wants and capabilities, 
afforded the strongest probability. All things invited to an 
extensive commerce. America offered productions in a raw, 
unmanufactured state. France, articles upon which industry 
had been exhausted, and which had received the highest finish 
of art. Notwithstanding these strong inducements to trade, 
the French cabinet had been inactive, and had entertained 
only a silent wish for those advantages which fortune had 
placed within reach. Rejected on all hands, and placed under 
the ban of Europe, the commerce of the United States, as far 
as it survived, continued to flow in the old channels. Braced 
by the difficulties of his situation, and encouraged by the hope 
of success, that accomplished diplomatist addressed himself to 
the task of extricating the commerce of the two nations from 
the embarrassments by which it was surrounded, and putting 
it upon a new and prosperous footing. 

Some acts of a favorable nature manifested a disposition on 
the part of the French court to cast ofi" its inert and sluggish 
policy. Boulton and Watt, at the head of the plated manu- 
factures of Birmingham, the steam-mills of London, copying- 
presses, and other mechanical works, were invited to France. 
Wedgewood, too, was induced to come, so famous for his steel 
manufactures, and earthen ware in the antique style. The 
transfer to France of those manufactures, which contributed 



now IT WAS CREATED. 75 

SO much to draw American trade to England, it TNas believed, 
would tend to strengthen its connections with the one, and 
loosen them with the other. To rival Cowes on the other side 
of the channel, the indefatigable minister solicited the enfran- 
chisement of Honfleur at the mouth of the Seine. It would 
be the out-post of Paris, and from it not only the northern 
parts of the kingdom might be supplied with the products of 
the United States, but it would be the entrepot from which 
other countries should be furnished. Bordeaux, through the 
Garonne and canal of Languedoc, would, in the same way, be 
made the centre through which the Southern provinces would 
receive the unwrought productions of the New World. 

But these acquisitions were, in their nature, only prelimi- 
nary, and of little value, except as parts of that commercial 
system which he insisted upon. Unfortunately for the success 
of the mission, the correct principles of trade were not recog- 
nised by the government of Louis. The mutuality of com- 
merce, which is now an elementary truth, was not regarded as 
necessary to its existence. On the contrary, surprise was 
expressed that the American merchant did not dispose of his 
tobacco and rice in London, and come and lay out the price 
in the merchandise of France. In order to lay a basis for 
trade, it was clearly pointed out that it would be necessary to 
relinquish the restrictive system, and, by low tariffs, to invite 
to the ports of France such articles as America was capable 
of producing, in exchange for which the products of the loom 
and vineyard would be taken. Of these articles, oil, rice and 
tobacco were the chief. After some delay, a reduction of 
duties on the first was made. But as it was to last only dur- 
ing the pleasure of the minister, it offered not that stability 
which would induce the merchant to re-build his ships. That 
duty had been devised to foster the French fisheries ; an object 
which was reluctantly abandoned, and to which the govern- 
ment subsequently reverted. 

It was agreed to receive the rice of Carolina on such terms 
as would enable it to compete with the rice of Italy and 



76 THE SECTIONAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

Egypt ; but the tobacco of Maryland and Virginia was placed 
on the worst possible footing, and yet tobacco was greatly the 
most valuable export of the United States, and the one which, 
if well received, would have created the strongest commercial 
ties. It was then a monopoly in the hands of the farmers 
general, for which they paid a heavy sum into the treasury. 

To break through that monopoly constituted accordingly 
the great result to be accomplished by the diplomacy of Jef- 
ferson. In May, 1796, he writes to Pleasants : " I was en- 
gaged in endeavors to have the monopoly in tobacco sup- 
pressed. My hopes on that subject are not desperate, neither 
are they flattering. I consider it the most effectual means of 
procuring the full value of our produce and of diverting our 
demands for manufactures from Great Britain to this country, 
to a certain amount, and of thus producing some equilibrium 
in our commerce, which, at present, lies all in the British 
scale. It would cement an union with our friends and lessen 
the torrent of wealth which we are annually pouring into the 
lap of our enemies." 

The farmers had been in the habit of making their pur- 
chases from London or Cowes, and ha3"always paid in money. 
They continued still to resort to the same market^ though they 
occasionally made their purchases in America. But, even 
then, payment was made through the medium of London re- 
mittances, and the returns were in English commodities. In 
either case, tobacco was lost to the commerce of the United 
States and France, and the benefit of the transaction inured 
to Great Britain. It was clear that political had not produced 
commercial independence to the United States, but that the 
old vassalage was continued, with new aggravations. Although 
the commercial restrictions of France were productive of such 
blighting consequences, it was still no easy matter to extirpate 
that deep-seated and inveterate evil, and have tobacco placed on 
the list of commerciable articles. It was shown, by the able 
statements of Jefferson, that not only would commerce spring 
up elastic if that superincumbent weight were removed, but 



HOW IT WAS CREATED. 77 

that the revenue derived from tobacco would be increased by 
the extension of the circle of consumption — an object, as we 
shall see, of the first moment to the tobacco growers of 
Virginia. But all eiforts to disenthrall that trade proved 
fruitless. 

The Marquis La Fayette, in obedience to his active im- 
pulses, was ever ready to assist in promoting the joint inte- 
rests of his " two countries," as he affectionately styled the 
United States and France.* 

But his solicitations were productive of no good. The 
ameliorations which he obtained were properly regarded in a 
contrary light, inasmuch as the very enormity of the abuse 
might ultimately lead to its reform. The king received on 
that article a revenue of twenty-eight million livres, a sum so 
considerable as to render it impolitic, it was alleged, to tamper 
with it. The collection, by way of farm, was of ancient date, 
and it was believed to be hazardous to alter arrangements of 
such long standing and of such infinite combinations with the 
fiscal system. But the true impediment to successful negotia- 
tion appears to have been, that the farmers-general were great 
capitalists, who had before and might again relieve the wants 
of the state. Standing a great power behind the throne, and 
holding a sceptre of gold, no minister was safe in a contest 
with them. 

But it would be doing injustice to the abilities, the firmness 
and the integrity of that great minister not to add, that the 
Count de Vergennes was convinced by the lucid expositions of 



* Mr. Jefferson repeatedly acknowledges the services of the marquis, and 
thus sketclies his character: "The Marquis de La Fayette is a most valuable 
auxiliary to me. His zeal is unbounded, and his weight with those in power 
great. His education, having been merely military, commerce was an un- 
known field to him. But his good sen<e enabling him to comprehend what- 
ever is explained to him, his agency has been very efficacious. He has a 
great deal of sound genius, is well-reniMrked by the king, and is rising in 
popularity. He has nothing against him but the suspicion of republican prin- 
ciples. I think he will one day be of the ministry. His foible is a canine 
appetite for popularity and fame, but he will get above this." / 



78 THE SECTIONAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

Jefferson, and that he declared against the monopoly. But 
the phalanx of farmers proved too strong for him. 

Here is a portrait of the Count de Vergennes, as depicted 
by the American negotiator. It is the picture of an accom- 
plished statesman by a great artist : " The Count de Ver- 
gennes is a great minister in European affairs, but has very 
imperfect ideas of our institutions and no confidence in them. 
His devotion to the principles of pure despotism renders him 
unaffectionate to our governments. His fear of England 
makes him value us as a make-weight. He is cool, reserved 
in political conversations, but free and familiar on other sub- 
jects, and a very attentive, agreeable person to do business 
with. It is impossible to have a clearer, better organized 
head ; but age has chilled his heart." It stands in contrast 
with the sketch which Mr. Jefferson gives of the count's suc- 
cessor in office : *' Montmorin is weak, though a most worthy 
character. He is indolent and inattentive in the extreme." 
It was Montmorin ^\ho recalled the concessions which had 
been made to the oil trade of the United States. 

Thus were the commerce and navigation of France and the 
United States sacrificed to the false views and timid counsels 
of a weak and necessitous sovereign. That false system held 
its ground till swept away by the Revolution, which destroyed 
so many of the abuses that festered under the old regime. 
The republic set free the wings of commerce ; the returning 
monarchy fettered them again ; nor have the genius and energy 
of the second empire abolished those unwise and hurtful re- 
straints. The commerce of Virginia and France is still an 
empty pageant, to kindle the hopes and inflame the desires of 
the sanguine and visionary. These hopes have sprung from 
the dying embers of other hopes, not less warm or less glow- 
ing. They would have received a brilliant realization, but 
for the most stupendous fraud, involving the grossest political 
turpitude ever practised upon a free people. 

Mr. Jefferson was convinced, as his correspondence de- 
clares, that nothing by negotiation and treaty could be done 



HOW IT WAS CREATED. 79 

for the liberation of commerce. The restrictive system of 
Europe could only be broken down by the application of 
harsh measures, and these he advised his countrymen to 
adopt. He thus writes to Madison : " I have heard, with 
great pleasure, that our Assembly has come to the resolution 
of giving the regulation of their commerce to the federal head. 
I will venture to assert that there is not one of its opposers 
who, placed on this ground, would not see the wisdom of the 
measure. The politics of Europe rende7' it indispensably 
necessary." And to John Adams, at the court of London, as 
follows : " The determination of the British cabinet to make 
no equal treaty with us, confirms me in the opinion expressed 
in your letter of October 24th, that the United States must 
pass a navigation act against Great Britain, and load her 
ma7iufactures with duties, so as to give a preference to those 
of other countries, and I hope the Assemblies will wait no 
longer, but transfer such power to Congress, at the sessions 
this fall." 

The import of the United States, which our minister to 
France proposed to load with duties, was of the utmost conse- 
quence to Europe. Upon that import, it was proposed to lay 
burthens equal in degree with those imposed by foreign 
nations upon the American export trade. 

In this conclusion, the ministers of the United States at the 
several courts of Europe concurred. Indeed, throughout the 
United States, there appears to have been great unanimity in 
this belief, and commercial retaliation became the universal 
demand. This had been attempted by the several State 
legislatures, but, from the want of co-operation, failure was 
the result. By showing the impotency of our political system, 
it served only to confirm the nations of Europe in their un- 
friendly policy. England found herself in the possession of 
the trade of her late colonies, and that the federal government 
was not possessed of sufficient powers to divert it into other 
channels. Thus the public mind was directed to the question 
of federal reform, and all the States, save one, consented so far 



80 THE SECTIONAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

to enlarge the powers of Congress, as to give it jurisdiction 
over the custom-house, for the purpose of regulating commerce 
with foreign nations. Free trade with all nations was the 
common object proposed to be obtained by this enlargement 
of congressional power, and Virginia took the initiative in the 
movement, an unrestricted liberty of trade having been from 
a remote period of her history a cherished object with her 
people.* 

But in Virginia, and indeed in the slave States generally, 
there was not entire conformity of opinion among public men, 
with respect to the grant of so formidable a power. Some, 
whilst they were willing to grant the power, were willing to 
grant it only for a term of twenty-five years, to be renewed if 
it were used for the advantage of Southern trade ; others were 
disposed to make an unqualified cession of it to the federal 
agent. An interesting account of the debate in the Virginia 

* When, in 1650, after the dethronement of Charles I., the Parliament, 
claiming to be substituted to his prerogatives, assumed jurisdiction over the 
colonies, and passed an act for inhibiting their trade with foreign nations,. 
Virginia strenuously resisted the revolutionary government. She was not 
induced to lay down her arms, and acknowledge the government of Crom- 
well, until a solemn convention had been entered into guaranteeing what 
she considered her most important rights, so little inclined was that high- 
spirited people to submit patiently to oppressive exercises of power. It is 
the first instance on record where a subordinate province exacted terms from 
the imperial power. Principal among the conditions demanded by the govern- 
ment of Virginia in 1651, as the price of her submission to the Protector, is 
the seventh article, which stipulates, "That the people of Virginia shall have 
free ti-ade, as the people of England do enjoy, to all places and with all 
nations, according to the laws of that Commonwealth, and that Virginia shall 
enjoy all privileges equal with any English plantation in America." The 
eighth article provides, " That Virginia shall be free from all taxes, customs 
and impositions whatsoever, and none be imposed on them without consent 
of the General Assembly," &c. 

This secured to Virginia the freedom of the general market for her export 
trade, — she might sell and buy wherever she pleased, — and her import trade 
was to be free from all customs and impositions whatever. 

Free trade, then, is a Virginia, not a South Carolina, principle. It is Vir- 
ginian in its origin and in its maturity. Virginia first took up arms in its 
defence, and afterwards proposed to her sister States to reform their organic 
laws, that its blessings might be secured. 



now IT WAS CREATED. 81 

Assembly upon this point has been preserved. Madison was a 
member of the Assembly, and it need not be added that he, 
ever an advocate of federal power in its greatest excess, con- 
tended for an unconditional surrender of the commercial juris- 
diction to Congress. 

The writings of Washington at this period are replete with 
interest upon this subject. He, too, favored a cession of that 
power to Congress, but proposed, at the same time, to place its 
exercise under such guards and checks as to make it impossible 
to be used by the North without the concurrence and co-opera- 
tion of the South. He admitted the danger of abuse, but con- 
tended that, great as the power was, it ought to be deposited 
with the federal legislature under the safeguards which he 
proposed. In his letter to James McHenry, he says: "Let 
the Southern States always be represented ; let them act more 
in union ; let them declare freely and boldly what is for the 
interest of, and what is prejudicial to, their constituents; and 
there will, there must be an accommodating spirit. In the 
establishment of a navigation act, this in a particular manner 
ought, and will doubtless be attended to. If the assent of 
nine States, or as some propose of eleven, is necessary to give 
validity to a commercial system, it ensures this measure, or it 
cannot be obtained. Wherein then lies the danger ? But if 
your fears are in danger of being realized, cannot certain 
provisos in the ordinance guard against the evil ? I see no 
difficulty in this, if the Southern States would give their attend- 
ance in Congress, and follow the example, if it should be set 
them, of adhering together to counteract combinations. * * 
* * * * As you have asked the question, I answer, I 
do not know that we can enter upon a war of imposts with 
Great Britain or any other foreign power, but we are certain 
that this war has been waged against us by the former, profess- 
edly, upon a belief that we never could unite in opposition to 
it, and I believe there is no way of putting an end to, or at least 
stopping an increase of it, but to convince them of the con- 
trary. Our trade, in all points of view, is as essential to Great 
6 



82 THE SECTIONAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

Britain, as hers is to us ; and she will exchange it upon recip- 
rocal and liberal terms if better cannot be had. It can hardly 
be supposed, I think, that the carrying business will devolve 
wholly on the States you have named, or remain long with 
them if it should, for either Great Britain will depart from her 
present contracted system, or the policy of the Southern 
States in framing the act of navigation, or by laws passed by 
themselves individually, will devise ways and means to encour- 
age seamen for the transportation of the products of their 
respective countries.* * * * * rp^ g^jo^ ^p ^j^g whole, 
I foresee, or I think I do, the many advantages which will 
arise from giving powers of this kind to Congress (if a suffi- 
cient number of States are required to exercise them), without 
any evil, save that which may proceed from inattention or 
want of wisdom in the formation of the act ; whilst without 
them we stand in a ridiculous point of view in the eyes of the 
nations of the world, with whom we are attempting to enter 
into commercial treaties without the means of carrying them 
into effect, who must see and feel that the Union, or the 
States individually are sovereigns, as best suits their purposes; 
in a word, that we are one nation to-day and thirteen to- 
morrow." 

In a subsequent letter to LaFayette, Washington touches 
this subject, which so frequently occupied his pen. He not 
only shows the impossibility of commercial retaliation by the 
individual action of the States, but indulges in anticipations 



* The shipping of Virginia, in common with the shipping of all the other 
States, had been destroyed during the Revolution, and her commerce waa 
carried on in foreign bottoms. But previous to the Revolution, as we leara 
from the Debates of the first session of Congress under the new Constitution, 
there was a large shipping interest owned by the merchants at her various 
ports, and this was true of every exporting State in the Union. Even after 
the adoption of the present government that interest again sprung up in Vir- 
gin!. i. It is within the memory of men still living, that at the port of Alex- 
andria that interest existed to a considerable extent, but it perished as soon 
as the foreign trade of the Commonwealth was transferred to the Northern 
cities. 



HOW IT WAS CREATED. 83 

of the efficacy of Congressional action : " I notice "witli 
pleasure the additional immunities and facilities in trade, 
which France has granted to the United States by the late 
royal arr^t. I flatter myself it will have the desired effect in 
some measure of augmenting the commercial intercourse. From 
the productions and wants of the two countries, their trade 
with each other is certainly capable of great amelioration. 
Whenever we shall have an efficient government established, 
that government will surely impose retaliating restrictions 
upon the trade of Britain. At present, or under our existing 
form of confederation, it would be idle to think of making 
commercial regulations on our part. One State passes a pro- 
hibitory law respecting some article, another State opens wide 
the avenue for its admission. It is in vain to hope for a 
remedy of these and innumerable other evils, until a general 
government shall be adopted." 

The question was taken up by Congress, who solicited in the 
most pressing terms, that the power to regulate commerce with 
foreign nations should be intrusted to them. Mr. Monroe 
brought forward a resolution on this subject, which was re- 
ferred to a committee, from whose report, in May 1785, the 
following extract is made : " The common principle upon 
which friendly commercial intercourse is conducted between 
independent nations, is that of reciprocal advantage ; and if 
this is not obtained, it becomes the duty of the losing party 
to make such further regulations consistently with the faith of 
treaties, as will remedy the evil, and secure its interests. If, 
then, the commercial regulations of any foreign power contra- 
vene the interests of any particular State, if they refuse 
admittance into its ports, upon the same terms that the State 
admits its manufactures here, what course will it take to 
remedy the evil ? If it makes similar regulations to counteract 
those of that power, by reciprocating the disadvantages which 
it feels, by impost or otherwise, will it produce the desired 
effect ? What operation will it have upon the neighboring 
States ? Will they enter into similar regulations and make it 



84 THE SECTIONAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

a common cause ? On the contrary, -will they not, in pursuit 
of the same local policy, avail themselves of this circumstance 
to turn it to their particular advantage ? Thus, then, we 
behold the several States taking separate measures in pursuit 
of their particular interests, in opposition to the regulations 
of foreign powers, and separately aiding those powers to 
defeat the regulations of each other ; for unless the States act 
together, there is no plan of policy into which they can sepa- 
rately enter, which they will not be separately interested to 
defeat, and of course all their measures must prove vain and 
abortive. * * * * * * But, if they act as a 
nation, the prospect is more favorable to them. The par- 
ticular interests of every State will then he brought forward 
and receive a Federal support. Happily for them, no measures 
can be taken to promote the interests of either, which will not 
equally promote that of the whole. If their commerce is laid 
under injurious restrictions in foreign ports, by going hand in 
hand in confidence together, by wise and equitable regulations, 
they will the more easily sustain the inconvenience, or remedy 
the evil. If they wish to cement the Union by the strongest 
ties of interest and affection ; if they wish to promote its 
strength and grandeur, founded upon that of each individual 
State, every consideration of local as well as federal policy 
urges them to adopt the following regulation." The commit- 
tee goes on to propose resolutions vesting in Congress the 
power to regulate commerce with foreign nations, to the end 
that the commerce of the United States might be freed from 
the embarrassments of European tariffs. 

There was no State in the Union which had embarked with 
greater zeal on the policy of commercial retaliation than Vir- 
ginia. But Maryland and Pennsylvania refused to act with 
her, and by lower scales of duties had invited the trade of 
A irginia to their own ports. It was these sinister means that 
gave the first impulse to Baltimore, until then a collection of 
fishermen's huts. The merchants of Virginia clamored loudly 
against a system of legislation which expelled trade from the 



HOW IT WAS CREATED. 85 

Commonwealth. The agricultural interest joined in the cry, 
for both purchases and sales Avere subjected to a heavy com- 
mercial tribute. The table of the Assembly was covered with 
petitions, and the restrictive system was abandoned. An in- 
teresting allusion to this perplexing subject is contained in the 
correspondence of Madison with Jeflferson, December 10th, 
1783. The writer had just returned from Annapolis, and 
gives an account of an interview which he had held at Gunston 
with Col. Mason, on the public topics which were then upper- 
most — The defence of our trade against British tariffs — the 
proposition to clothe Congress with the power to collect an 
impost for the ijur-pose of revenue ; federal reform, and the 
deplorable condition of the foreign trade of the State, pro- 
duced in some measure by the system of retaliation upon 
which the Assembly had just embarked. In respect to the 
latter, Mr. Madison says: "The situation of commerce of this 
country, as far as I can learn, is even more deplorable than I 
had conceived. It cannot pay less to Philadelphia and Balti- 
more, if one may judge from a comparison of prices here and 
in Europe, than 30 or 40 per cent, on all the exports and im- 
ports — a tribute* which, if paid into. the treasury of the State, 
would yield a surplus above all its wants. If the Assembly 
should take any step towards its emancipation, you will no 
doubt be apprised of them, as well as other proceedings from 
Richmond." 

But this commercial rivalry between States bordering on 
the same rivers aod bays could not long subsist, without pro- 
ducing irritations that might at any time lead to unpleasant 
results. Measures of accommodation and friendly co-operation 
between Maryland and Virginia were soon proposed. Com- 
missioners to form a compact to regulate the navigation of the 
rivers Potomac and Pocomoke, and part of the bay of Chesa- 



* The commercial tribute Virginia still pays, and its oppressive weight, 
as well as the means of escaping from it, are ably set forth in an elaborate 
speech of Mr. D. H. London, of Richmond city, January, 1860. 



86 THE SECTIONAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

peake, had been appointed by the legislatures of those States. 
They assembled in Alexandria in March, 1785, and whilst on 
a visit to Mount Vernon, it was concerted with Washington 
that the coiomissioners should propose to their respective gov- 
ernments the appointment of other commissioners, with power 
to make arrangements for the maintenance of a joint naval 
force in the Chesapeake ; and the establishment of a tariff of 
duties on imports to which the laws of both States should 
conform. 

Thus was a commercial league* between those two States 
set on foot by the instrumentality of no less a personage than 
George Washington, to which other States were to have been 
admitted according to the agreement of their interests with 
the interests of the original contracting parties. The State 
legislatures were then invested with unlimited power over inter- 
State commerce, which was habitually employed to lay it under 
disabilities. Had this plan, so wisely conceived by the sage of 
Mount Vernon, been carried into execution, the happiest results 
would have followed. The States were already united by a 
political compact which covered those particulars in which their 
interests lay together, and that subordinate association, that 
trade's, union would have exercised jurisdiction over the import- 
ant concerns o^ commerce. The plan was based upon the posses- 
sion of the custom house remaining with the State authorities, 
and that the federal treasury should be replenished by direct 

* Saturday, November 25th, 1786, — " The House proceeded, according to 
the order of the day, by joint ballot with the Senate, to the choice of five 
commissioners to meet commissioners appointed, or to be appointed by the 
States of Maryland and Pennsylvania, to confer on the subject of Commer- 
cial Regulations to be adopted by this and the said States." (Jour. H. D. p. 
60.) The commissioners appointed were St. George Tucker, Wm. Ronald, 
Robert Townsend Hooe, Thomas Pleasants and Francis Corbin. 

Five days later, on the 30th of the same month, the House determined 
to ballot for delegates to the Federal Convention to "revise" the Con- 
stitution. We would infer from this that it was the intention of the Legisla- 
ture of Virginia to reform the federal articles and yet to form a subordinate 
commercial association with both Maryland and PenQsylvaaia. 



HOW IT WAS CREATED. 87 

taxation alone, or from contributions. Thus the powers of self- 
development, to which the custom house giving jurisdiction over 
trade is so indispensable, would have been left with each State, 
nor would it have been placed in the power of Congress to sacri- 
fice one State to another State or to have erected the prosperity 
of the North upon the ruins of Southern industry. There would 
have been harmony and perpetual union between those sec- 
tions, instead of contention, hatred, disunion and war. 

But things took a different turn; for when those proposi- 
tions received the assent of the legislature, an additional reso- 
lution was passed, directing that which respected the duties 
on imports to be communicated to all the States in the Union, 
who were invited to send deputies to a convention. On the 
21st January, 1786, soon after the passage of these resolutions, 
another was adopted by the Assembly of Virginia, designating 
" commissioners to meet such as might be appointed by the 
other States in the Union, at a time and place to be agreed on, 
to take into consideration the trade of the United States ; 
to consider how far a uniform system in their commercial rela- 
tions may be necessary to their common interest and perma- 
nent harmony; and to report to the several States such an act 
relative to this great object', as when unanimously ratified by 
them will enable the United States, in Congress assembled, 
effectually to provide for the same." Thus the well-considered 
plan of Washington miscarried in the Assembly of Virginia, 
who, impelled by a blind fury, rushed forward to cast their 
Commonwealth into the maelstrom of federal power. The 
Convention at Annapolis followed. Those evil genii, Hamilton 
and Madison, attended and guided its deliberations. The 
object of the Convention was circumvented, and it was con- 
verted into an instrument for calling the Federal Convention,, 
which assembled the following year at Philadelphia. 

The population of Virginia, in 1788, was computed at more 
than 500,000, and its military force at 50,000 militiamen. 
These had seen service in the late war, and composed a formi- 
dable soldiery, adequate to the defence of the Commonwealth. 



88 THE SECTIONAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

Next to the numbers and military force, the constituent 
elements of the population of Virginia deserve attention. 
The cavalier or aristocratic class still existed, though the foun- 
dation of that order had been upturned by the abolition of the 
entail. Sullen and discontented at the ascendancy of the 
Democratic power, the great bulk of that interest, embracing 
the diseased stump of the Tory party, hailed the new Consti- 
tution with a great joy. It would erect a mighty central 
authority, confined by doubtful limits, which, in its develop- 
ment, would probably contain the substance as it was certainly 
impressed with the image of the British Constitution. At all 
events, it would deposit the highest attributes of power with a 
government external to, and independent of, the Democracy 
of Virginia, whose rude hand had swept away the insolent pre- 
rogative of primogeniture. 

The direct and untrammeled intercourse which had subsisted 
between the parent State and the colony of Virginia, had pro- 
duced a considerable commerce, which had erected flourishing 
towns at the head of tide-water on those rivers which, like 
great arteries, intersected the eastern part of that depend- 
ency. The towns-people, in consequence, wielded no in- 
considerable share of the political power which, in a close 
struggle like tie present, would exert an important influence 
on the result. They expected that a Constitution, full fledged 
with commercial powers, would usher in a commercial millen- 
nium, and, with the revival of trade, that their towns would 
expand into great cities. So strong was this delusion in the 
town of Alexandria, according to the testimony of Washington, 
there was not one voter opposed to ratification. But no such 
millennium came. Her verdant streets, her deserted wharves, 
her abandoned houses, her diminished population, soon af- 
forded the strongest commentary upon the folly of that act. 

But the great bulk of the voters lived in the country, and 
were composed of free-holders, occupying small farms. These 
farms, as the word originally signified, were held of landlords 
at an annual rent in money or in kind. This accounts for the 



HOW IT AVAS CREATED. 89 

dense white population whicli, in proportion to the cultivated 
area, exceeded that of the whole State at the present moment. 
The market crop was tobacco ; a plant which, above all others 
cultivated by man, is best adapted to agriculture on a limited 
surface. But there was a mighty cause, in co-operation with 
tobacco, which produced that minute subdivision of the soil. 
That cause was cheap and abundant negro labor. An able- 
bodied negro could be purchased, at any market-town, for a 
hogshead of tobacco, which placed it in the power of the poor- 
est man to embark in the agricultural development of the 
country. 

Thus had been produced that general distribution of the land 
among the people which wisest men, and many of the noblest 
commonwealths of antiquity have considered so indispensable 
to the stability of republican institutions. So broad was the 
basis of liberty in that youthful republic ! Thus, by a for- 
tunate concurrence, had been destroyed " that fatal difference 
between poverty and riches." The slave population, but an 
incident and means of agriculture, except in the malarial dis- 
tricts on tide-water, Avas scattered with an equal hand among 
the freeholders. So universal was this distribution of negroes 
among the farmers of Virginia, that Richard Morris has de- 
clared, "to be a freeholder was to be a slaveholder." 

The institution of slavery, contrary to representations often 
made, was deeply rooted in the affections of the people, as was 
verified by a signal example. A petition for its abolition had 
been presented to the Assembly of 1785. It could scarcely 
obtain a reading, and was flung with contempt back upon the 
petitioners. So promptly and vigorously was the kindling 
flame of emancipation trodden out in Virginia ! 

That visionary philosophy was just coming into vogue. Dr. 
Price, the English philosopher and philanthropist, had turned 
his attention to slavery in the Southern States of the Ameri- 
can Union, and had written a pamphlet against it, which Mr. 
Jefferson had caused to be circulated among the students of 
William and Mary College. But those distempers had not 



90 THE SECTIONAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

penetrated and corrupted the mass of the country population, 
■which -with an absolute sway controlled the politics of the 
Assembly. From the nature of their occupations and their 
manner of life, they -vrere exempt from those idle and perni- 
cious theories ■which amuse and distract men of leisure. Their 
minds were cast in the practical mould, and they judged the 
institutions of society by their fruits. Theories ■with them 
•were the growth of experience, and following that certain 
guide, they proved themselves on this occasion to be safe de- 
positories of those great principles ■which constituted the basis 
of their social and political systems. 

This decided bias for slavery was v;ell founded. From the 
employment of negro labor they had seen the hunting grounds 
of the savage converted into the abode of a civilized commu- 
nity, both ■wealthy and powerful. But this ■was not all. 
During the late protracted "war, which had been characterized 
by every feature of atrocity, the country had been invaded, 
the inhabitants dispersed, the cities occupied by the invader ; 
yet during that gloomy and disastrous period, the negro had 
proved loyal. Notwithstanding the seductions of the enemy, 
no act of insurrection had been committed by him. On the 
contrary, the faithful slave had accompanied his master to the 
battle field, and after sharing with him privation and fatigue, 
had tenderly nursed him in sickness, and often carried home 
the last memento of the dying soldier ; or engaged in the 
useful and necessary work of the plantation, had supported, 
whilst he protected, the family of his absent master. If we 
may credit the evidence that has come down to us, no part of 
the population of the South took a deeper interest in the for- 
tunes of the Revolution, than did the bulk of the slave popu- 
lation. Such was the confidence that was inspired by those 
stormy times in the fidelity of the negro, that by leading 
statesmen, in different parts of the Union, it was believed that 
it would be expedient to place arms in his hands, that he might 
aid in expelling the British army, and it is well known that 
the Assembly of Virginia at one time took steps to embody a 
regiment of negroes. 



HOW IT WAS CREATED. 91 

Negroes had been sometimes employed in the capacity of 
spies,* as the correspondence of Washington shows, and whilst 
they would be freely admitted within the British lines, there is 
no instance recorded in which they betrayed the cause of 
their American masters. 

The American armies, when acting in the South, were ac- 
companied by great numbers of slaves, who, if they did not 
shoulder the musket, yet by many laborious services in the 
camp and field, — transporting baggage, carrying artillery, 
throwing up fortifications, — supplied the place of soldiers, and 
in this way increased the ranks of the army.f 

The benefits of education were universally difi'used among 
the tenant population. Every neighborhood was thickly 
settled with families in independent circumstances, and 
every neighborhood had its schoolmaster. The education was 
necessarily plain, and consisted of the rudiments of knowl- 
edge ; but it was sufiicient to enable the farmer and his fam.ily 
to read the Bible, to become conversant with the history and 
politics of his country, and to transact, with intelligence, the 
business appertaining to his sphere of life. There is nothing 
which speaks more eloquently or more sadly of the retrograde 
of Virginia, than the ruins of those humble temples of knowl- 
edge. The Old Field schools, where so many of the shining 
lights of Virginia first tasted of the crystal fountains of learn- 
ing, was to Virginia what the Free school is to Massachusetts ; 



* Thursday, November 30th, 1786. — "A petition of James, a neQ;ro slave, 
the property of William Armisted, of the county of New Kent, was presented 
to the House, and read; setting forth that during the year 1781, he fre- 
quently, at the request of the Marquis de La Fayette, went into the British 
camp for the purpose of getting information, which he immediately commu- 
nicated to him, and rendered him other essential services; and praying that 
he may be emancipated, and a reasonable sum paid to the said Armisted, for 
the loss he will sustain thereby." (Journal Ho. Del., 1786, p. 68.) I need 
not add that Jim's petition was granted. 

■f Consult correspondence of Madison, and that of Hamilton, Debates Fed- 
eral Convention, and the Debates of the 1st Congress, particularly the speech 
of Smith, S. C, Annals Congress, vol. ii., p. 1457. 



92 THE SECTIONAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

differing, however, in the source from which it emanated, and 
differing, too, in the fact that it did not propagate in the 
minds of the people the seeds of that moral contagion which 
has played so important a part in corrupting the whole free- 
Boil section. 

This tenant population was what Mr. Henry denominated 
" the great middling class," and constituted, in truth, the back 
bone of the State. Their opinions were deeply tinctured with 
republicanism, and were ennobled and strengthened by a proud 
spirit of personal independence. These were the men who, 
as long as colonial institutions conduced to their happiness and 
prosperity, regarded the British crown with unfeigned venera- 
tion and love ; these were the men who had proved themselves, 
on the field of battle, ready to conquer the wilderness from 
the Indian, and restrain the encroachments of French ambi- 
tion in America ; these were the men who, after lingering long 
on the threshold of Independence, resolutely passed tbat Rubi- 
con undismayed by the stormy scenes which opened upon 
them. These constituted the yeomanry of Virginia, whose 
glory is so closely connected with all the great victories of the 
Revolution. 

The martial instincts of this class were strong.* So soon 
as appeal was made to the sword, the contingent of Vir- 
ginia was ever in active service ; and for patience, fortitude 
and courage, they stood in the first rank of the Patriot army. 
Washington, in the perilous hour of battle, never felt so safe 
as when surrounded by his brave and ever faithful Virginians. 
In the language of James Monroe, himself a soldier of the 

* The yeoman population was not confined to Virginia, but constituted the 
rural class throughout the South. They are represented by Washington as 
having a great aptitude for war. Here is an extract from his reply to an 
address from the people of South Carolina, after he became President. 
Works, vol. 12, p. 187. "Seconded by such a body of yeomen as repaired to 
the standard of liberty, fighting in their own native land, fighting for all that 
freemen hold dear, and whose docility soOn supplied the place of discipline, 
it was scarcely in human nature, in its worst character, to abandon them in 
their misfortuass." 



HOW IT WAS CREATED. 93 

Revolution, " Virginia braved all dangers. From Quebec to 
Boston, from Boston to Savannah, she shed the blood of lier 
sons." When the theatre of war was transferred to her own 
soil, the triumph >Yhich closed the bloody drama was achieved 
by her sons, aided by the chivalry of France ! 

But it was upon the conclusion of the war that the higher 
qualities of the Southern soldiery were displayed, and these 
qualities were the immediate fruits of their social system. 
When the federal army was disbanded, and the Northern sol- 
diers cast loose upon society, they, in some parts of the coun- 
try, contributed to create a rebellion against that government 
for which they had fought. But, at the South, the behavior 
of the warrior class was very different. " The tempest of 
war," says Washington, "having at length been succeeded by 
the sunshine of peace, our citizen soldiers impressed a useful 
lesson of patriotism on mankind by nobly returning with im- 
paired constitutions and unsatisfied claims, after such lono^ 
sufferings and severe disappointments to their former occupa- 
tions." So glorious is the history of the tenant farmer of 
Virginia. 

The general diffusion of slavery, through the country popu- 
lation, exerted a marked influence upon the political tenden- 
cies of the people, in contrast with the political tendencies of 
the North. It gave to the former a strong bias to republican- 
ism ; the absence of it left the latter a prey to those wander- 
ing fancies which lead to despotism. Washington observed 
this. He says the North " was much more productive of mon- 
archical ideas than was the case in the Southern States." Vol. 
9, p. 247. Deeply impressed with the love of personal and po- 
litical liberty, the yeomanry were the guardians of the republic. 

During the colonial period, Virginia in her government, but 
more in her social elements, bore a resemblance to England, 
and the resemblance is closer, if we take England before the 
abolition of villeinage. This order, or estate, if I may employ 
a word used to describe the feudal divisions of society, consti- 
tuted the commons of Virginia. 



94 THE SECTIONAL EQUILIBKIUM. 

It -will not be out of place here, and will illustrate an im- 
portant period of Virginian history, if we make a digression 
and search into the origin of the rural population of Virginia. 
The inquiry will carry us far back in English annals, but it 
will prove, if I mistake not, not the least instructive portion 
of history. 

The yeomen of Virginia were descended from the yeomen* 
of England. Uprooted in the land of their nativity, and 
scorning the condition of the peasant, great numbers of them, 
with that spirit of adventure which appears to have been inhe- 
rent in the race, migrated to the colony- of Virginia, where, 
under other auspices and other skies, they rebuilt their homes. 
They were of the hardy Saxon breed, and it is probable that 
not a drop of Norman blood coursed through their veins. An 
hereditary preference for independent free-hold possessions, 
cultivated by servile labor, they brought with them. Thus a 
partiality for domestic slavery was inherent in the Virginian 
character. The yeoman population of England was the fruit 
of the feudal system as there developed. f By its prevailing 

* The language in current use in Virginia, among people of little educa- 
tion, indicates their ancestry. Many words at present deemed vulgar, and 
excluded from polite use, ■when traced back, are discovered to be old English 
■words, at one time employed by poets and princes. Several examples occur 
tome. Queen Elizabeth said: "My Lord mouglxt have done ■well to have 
built his almshouse," &c. I hear that word every day, yet it would scarcely be 
considered as graceful and proper on the lips of Victoria. So afeared, al- 
though now condemned as an impropriety of speech, is found in the page of 
Shakspeare. Farmer, in its proper and English sense, means one who culti- 
vates leased land. The word retained that signification after its introduction 
into Virginia, but when the tenant system gave way, it changed its sense and 
slid into a very different meaning. So of proverbs and vulgar metaphors. 
When Cranmer suggested to Henry to consult the foreign Universities touching 
the legality of his marriage with Catherine, the king was delighted, and ex- 
claimed, " Cranmer has got the right sow by the ear." Thus evidence of their 
lineage is deeply embedded in the language of the people. 

I The landed system of England, as it sprung out of the institutions im- 
posed at the Conquest, together with the subordination of classes dependent 
upon it, is explained with brevity and precision by Lord Bacon in his essay 
on "The use of the Law." He who desires to look into those antiquities, 
may examine that author, vol. 2d, pp. 256, 257. 



HOW IT WAS CREATED. 95 

policy the soil was cut up into small tenancies, which were oc- 
cupied by freemen and cultivated by slaves. It was not until 
it began to give way under a new order of society, and the 
servile class to assume the form of day laborers, that its exist- 
ence was seriously threatened. It was a powerful interest, 
and struck deep into the national sympathy, and a system of 
legislation was devised for its preservation, and persisted in 
during a long series of years. 

But decay was at hand, and the means selected proved in 
the end an insufficient barrier to the advancing march of 
society and the instincts of individual interest. The purposes 
for which the feudal system had been devised had ceased 
to exist, and nothing could have preserved the divisions of 
property which it instituted, but accomodating them to the 
new interests which had sprung into existence, and linking 
them with the new powers which had risen up to govern the 
world. But this the statesmen of that age did not perceive, 
and it is left for posterity to remark and avoid their errors. 
Nor was the sympathy excited by the jeopardy of that class 
without good reason. The yeomanry had composed the prin- 
cipal strength of the English armies, whilst the military sys- 
tem of the Middle Ages retained its vigor unimpaired. It was 
that martial element which enabled England to win the great 
victories of the Middle Ages, which had shed such undying lus- 
tre upon her arms ; it was those invincible bands which had 
overturned the throne of France and rendered the name of 
England terrible in Europe. That rude and untitled chivalry 
had taught French tacticians that it was a dangerous thing 
to meet the soldiers of England in a pitched battle, and that 
it was safe to prolong the war by sieges. Henry VII. in a 
speech from the throne to parliament urging a war with 
France, said : " At the battles of Cressy, Poictiers, Agincourt, 
we were of ourselves. France hath much people, but few 
soldiers. They have no stable hands of foot. '' 

In the decline of agriculture is to be discovered the primary 
cause which imperilled this class. Indications of this declen- 



96 THE SECTIONAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

sion attracted the attention of government, soon after the ter- 
mination of the civil war which, during the fifteenth century, 
for a period of thirty years, scourged that unhappy kingdom, 
in the course of which, says Hume, almost the whole of the 
ancient nobility were destroyed. To that great catastrophe 
must in the first place be ascribed, though other causes soon 
co-operated, the fate which threatened to overwhelm the whole 
tenant population, and not to a rude and unskillful agriculture 
as suggested by the author just named. 

The pacification of the kingdom by an union of the hostile 
factions, found every department of industry in ruins, as 
needs must have been after so long a train of disasters. That 
inveterate and inextinguishable feud had broken into many 
parts, and had raged with unexampled violence among the 
great families who, with their retainers, embraced the entire 
realm. Thus was that destructive war carried to every door 
sill. None were too low, and none too high, to escape that 
fatal storm. A single extract from the illustrious historian of 
that period, will exhibit, in striking colors, the blight which 
those evil times had produced. After the victory which set 
the crown upon his head, " the King set forward, by easy 
journeys, to the city of London, receiving the acclamations 
and applauses of the people as he went, which, indeed, were 
true and unfeigned, as might well appear in the very demon- 
strations and fullness of the cry. For they thought gene- 
rally, that he was a prince, as ordained and sent down from 
heaven, to unite and put an end to the long dissensions of the 
two Houses." So absolute was the wretchedness of the people 
at this period, that the attempt to collect a subsidy, more than 
once during this reign, produced insurrection. On one occa- 
sion, " the people, upon a sudden, grew into a great mutiny, 
and said openly that thej had endured, of late years, a thous- 
and miseries, and neither would nor could pay the subsidy.* 
When the root of national industry had decayed, it followed, 

* Bacon's History of Henry VII. 



HOW IT WAS CREATED. 97 

as an inseparable consequence, that its branches should wither. 
With the destruction of agriculture, the prosperity of the 
towns disappeared. 

Thus it was that England, at the union of the Roses, pre- 
sented so worn and dilapidated a scene. In truth, those vio- 
lent disorders had broken up old foundations, and the country, 
as if emerging from a chaos, was preparing, under other social 
conditions, to enter upon the new era which then opened upon 
Europe. Landed proprietors had begun to consolidate their 
farms by converting arable into pasture lands, and a general 
disruption of the tenant system impended. Great flocks of 
sheep had begun to overspread the country, and to usurp 
the homes of the people. Ruined tenements and aban- 
doned dwellings greeted the eye on every side. So de- 
structive was that evil, that Sir Thomas More, in a sub- 
sequent reign, forcibly said : " A sheep in England had be- 
come a more ravenous animal than a lion or wolf, and had 
devoured whole villages, cities and provinces." A cry of dis- 
tress went up from every part of the kingdom, and popular- 
risings threatened the public peace.* Appeals were made to 
government, and Parliament interfered to avert the threat- 
ened calamity. Laws were enacted, the most conspicuous of 
which were the Enclosure Acts, the expediency of which has 
excited great diversity of opinion. Whilst Hume condemns, 
Bacon approves their sound policy. 

In recapitulating " the good Commonwealth's laws," enacted 
in the fourth year of Henry YII., so early in the reign of this 
monarch was this policy begun, Bacon recites these statutes, 
and, in his own condensed and luminous manner, enumerates 
the causes that had led to their adoption. " Another statute 
was made, of singular policy, for the population, apparently, 
and, if it be thoroughly considered, for the soldiery and mil- 
itary forces of the kingdom. Enclosures, at that time, began 
to be more frequent, whereby arable land, which could not be 

* See Burnet's History of the Reformation. 

7 



98 THE SECTIONAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

manured * without people and families, was turned into pas- 
ture — whicli was easy to be rid by a few herdsmen ; and ten- 
ancies for years, lives, and at will, whereupon much of the 
yeomanry lived, were turned into demesne. This bred a decay 
of the towns, churches, tythes, and the like. The king, like- 
wise, knew full well, and in no wise forgot, that there ensued 
withal, upon this, a decay and diminution of subsidies and 
taxes; for the more gentlemen, ever the lower book of sub- 
sidies. In remedying this inconvenience, the king's wisdom 
was admirable, and the parliament's at that time." Enclo- 
sures they did not forbid, but framed an ordinance, that by 
indirect means, sought to attain that object. It was enacted, 
" that all houses of husbandry that were used with twenty 
acres of ground and upwards, should be maintained and kept 
forever ; together with a competent provision of land to be 
used and occupied with them." The act was put under the 
sanction of exemplary penalties. 

The avowed object of the Enclosure Act and its auxiliary 
enactments, was to preserve from threatened annihilation the 
tenant or yeoman population. Hume, as already stated, 
strongly reprobates them as an unwise and oppressive inter- 
ference with the rights of private property ; but full com- 
pensation, I think, has been furnished by Bacon, who in a 
masterly way explains and defends their policy. I could not 
select from the whole body of his works, a more admirable 
example of the penetration of that profound and universal 
genius. The Virginian of the present day will observe with 
satisfaction, that, in the following extract, his lordship points 
out the inestimable advantages which Virginia afterwards ex- 
perienced from a social system constructed on that noble model: 

"By this means the houses being kept up, did of necessity 
enforce a dweller ; and the proportion of land for occupation 
being kept up, did of necessity enforce that dweller not to be 



* Bacon employs the word in its primitive sense. It is a modern notion 
that lands can be *' manured" -without human labor. 



HOW IT WAS CREATED. 99 

a beggar or cottager, but a man of some substance, that might 
keep hinds and servants, and set the plough on going. This 
did wonderfully concern the might and manorhood of the 
kingdom, to have farms, as it were, of a standard sufficient to 
maintain an able body out of penury, and did in effect amor- 
tise a great part of the lands of the kingdom unto the hold 
and occupation of the yeomanry or middle people, of a condi- 
tion between gentlemen and cottagers or peasants. Now, how 
much this did advance the military power of the kingdom is 
apparent by the true principles of war and the examples of 
other kingdoms. For it hath been held by the general opinion 
of men of best judgment in the wars, howsoever some few 
have varied, and that it may receive some distinction of case, 
that the principal strength of an army consisteth in the in- 
fantry or foot. And to make good infantry, it requireth men 
bred, not in the servile or indigent fashion, but in some free 
and plentiful manner. Therefore, if a State run most to 
noblemen and gentlemen, and that the husbandmen and 
ploughmen be but their work folks and laborers, or else mere 
cottagers, which are but housed beggars, you may have a good 
cavalry, but never good stable bands of foot ; like to coppice 
woods, that if you leave in them staddles too thick, they will 
run to bushes and briers, and have little clean underwood. 
And this is to be seen in France and Italy, and some other 
parts abroad, where in effect all is noblesse or peasantry (I 
speak of people out of towns), and no middle people, and 
therefore no good forces of foot; insomuch that they are en- 
forced to employ mercenary bands of Switzers, and the like, 
for their battalions of foot. Whereby, also, it comes to passj 
that those nations have much people and few soldiers. Where- 
as, the king saw, that contrariwise it would follow, that Eng- 
land, though much less in territory, yet would have infinitely 
more soldiers of their native forces than those other nations 
have. Thus did the king secretly sow Hydra's teeth ; where- 
upon, according to the poet's fiction, should rise up armed 
men for the service of this kingdom. " 



100 THE SECTIONAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

It is to be inferred from the language of Bacon, who com- 
posed his history in the reign of James I., that the Enclosure 
Acts of Henry VIL, amended and perfected in subsequent 
reigns, had provided a stable bulwark for the protection of the 
yeomanry of England against the powerful causes which 
threatened their existence. This doubtless, to some extent, 
was true, inasmuch as the policy of those laws was persisted 
in for more than a century and a half. But complaints of 
encroachments on the plough were continually heard, until 
emigration relieved the plethora of population. 

During the minority of Edward VL, discontents emanating 
from this source rose so high as to produce a rebellion, serious 
enough to embarrass the government of the Protector. Boards 
of Commission, invested with discretionary authority to inquire 
into all controversies originating in that cause, were dispatched 
to every part of the kingdom. Such prompt and summary, 
not to say violent and arbitrary, measures, doubtless, for a 
time, arrested the evil and restored the tenant population to 
their farms and their homes. 

But the root of this evil lay deeper, and was not reached 
by the Enclosure Acts, and that root was, as already sug- 
gested, an unproductive agriculture. The reason that the 
profits of agriculture were poor, in comparison with the profits 
of pasturage, and why agriculture alone did not revive after 
the general prostration superinduced by the civil wars, appears 
to be referable to an injudicious regulation of trade by royal 
authority, together with the sudden expansion of manufactures 
and commerce, which, at that time, occurred both in England 
and on the continent. The exportation of breadstuff's was 
prohibited by an executive edict, from which the produce of 
pasturage was exempted. The policy upon which the king 
proceeded was the encouragement of the English woollen 
manufactures, a cherished object, as is evidenced by the 
statute law of England. So far did government proceed in 
pursuit of this object, that Parliament enacted a law requiring 



HOW IT WAS CREATED. 101 

the dead to be buried in woollens.* It was by this means 
that the profits of agriculture were sacrificed to the cre- 
ation of a new interest, and, consequently, was sacrificed 
that landed system by which the yeomanry of England were 
sustained. We shall see hereafter that the yeomanry of Vir- 
ginia were destroyed, by Congress employing kindred mean? 
and in pursuit of a similar object. The English monarch, by 
an order in council, prohibited the exports of the farm, and 
the legislators of the United States taxed the imports for 
which the agricultural exports of Virginia had been ex- 
changed. The interference of government in either case 
injuriously affected the farmer. 

Another cause which co-operated in the discouragement of 
English agriculture was the demand for wool on the continent, 
particularly in the low countries, then the seat of industry 
and the arts in the north of Europe. The extent of English 
commerce with the low countries at that period was exhibited 
by the great inconvenience produced by a suspension of trade, 
which occurred in consequence of the countenance and pro- 
tection afforded to Perkin Warbeck by Margaret of Burgundy. 
So great was it, that, by particular agreement, commercial 
intercourse was exempted from the operation of wars that 
might thereafter occur between those parties. But those 
restraints upon the exportation of grain were long per- 
sisted in, and agriculture did not begin to flourish until after 
those restraints had been removed, — so inseparable is the 
connection in all ages, and under all governments, between 
commerce and agriculture. They spring, indeed, from the 
same root, and are imbedded in the same soil. 

But, in the fullness of time, great events occurred, and a 
new theatre was prepared for the yeomanry of England. The 
settlements in Virginia had been established, and into them 
the living current was poured, precipitated and enlarged by 
the domestic troubles engendered by the tyranny of the 

* See Hallam's Constitutional History of Enj^land. 



y 



102 THE SECTIONAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

Stuarts, the like of which had loosened that order of society 
from its first holdings. The yeomanry of England, torn 
from their parent soil, were elected to the high destiny of 
founding a new empire of a type of civilization, before un- 
known among men, which, after many vicissitudes, was des- 
tined to stand alone, as the one under which republican liberty 
can be reconciled with social order, and with the highest forms 
of moral and industrial development.* In the posterity of 
those who fought at Cressy, Agincourt and Poictiers, the trust 
was not committed to unworthy hands. In war and in peace, 
in the council and the field, through good report and through 
evil report, they and their descendants have been faithful to 
their high trust ; and at the present hour, when the billows of 
fanaticism threaten to overwhelm it, they constitute the firmest 
barrier of that peculiar civilization — a civilization derived from 
the blended elements of liberty and slavery — the twisted cord 
of white and black, out of which the destiny of the South has 
been woven. 

A considerable portion of the yeomanry of Virginia espoused 
the cause of the new government, deceived by men who were 
themselves deceived into the general belief, that the transfer 
from the legislatures of the States to the legislature of the 
Union of " the power to regulate commerce," for which the 
new Constitution made provision, would be the means of lift- 
ing the heavy weights from the trade of the State. But this 
motive operated not upon the great majority of that class. 
They turned a deaf ear to the seductive voice of interest. 
They sternly opposed a constitution which, in its development, 
they were convinced would destroy their recent and dear- 
bought independence. But the voice of the majority was not 
always heard in the councils of the State. The political 
organization was so framed, as to enable a minority of the 
voting population to impose laws, constitutions and systems on 
the contrary wishes of the people. Had the people been pro- 
vided with organs for the expression of their will, the new 
Constitution would have been discarded by a great majority, 



HOW IT WAS CREATED. 103 

and the Articles of Confederation amended, to "which they 
were strongly attached. As it was, the heart and mind of 
Virginia did not ratify the Constitution ; but Virginia, by 
mixed fraud and violence, was dragged hand-cuffed into the 
new Union. 

I should very imperfectly discharge the unpleasing task of 
recounting the wrongs and misfortunes of my country, if I did 
not here give some account of the means by which that 
fatal result was accomplished ; a free and high-spirited people 
enslaved ; the riches and pre-eminence of the Commonwealth 
destroyed ; her dignity and respectability lost. 

The two pillars upon which rests the edifice of a democratic 
republic are suffrage and representation. In both particulars 
the Constitution of Virginia was so defective, as scarcely to 
deserve the name of a popular government. The two are 
indeed but one — representation being to the community, what 
suffrage is to the individual. In its two-fold application of 
that fundamental principle of free government, the Constitu- 
tion had indeed deviated from the correct rule ; but in apology 
for that aberration it has been urged by one who was himself 
schooled in sound principles, that "the Constitution was formed 
when we were raw and unexperienced in the science of govern- 
ment, and it is no wonder that time and trial should have dis- 
covered very capital defects in it." It may be added, that it 
was struck out at a single heat by the genius of one man, was 
framed in a season of public anxiety, and almost amid the 
tumult of arms, and was after all but an imperfect adaptation of 
her colonial institutions to the altered condition of Virginia. 

Only freeholders by that Constitution were allowed to vote. 
That qualification excluded from the exercise of the franchise 
those adult male citizens who were possessed only of a chattel 
interest in lands, a class that was growing to be more nume- 
rous on account of the gradual change which had begun in 
lease tenures. The white laborer laboring for wages was then 
not known in Virginia, he being a recent and unnatural growth 
in a slave holding community. Complaints had already been 



104: THE SECTIONAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

heard of the exclusion from the ballot box produced by that 
requirement; but still, for the following reasons, I am strongly 
inclined to the belief that the freeholders embraced the great 
body of male citizens who had attained majority. 

1. Every democratic government, from its nature, must, in 
the vital particular of suffrage, reflect the image of the com- 
munity and be a correct test of the general condition. Of 
this important truth the constitutional history of Virginia 
affords ample proof. At the period when the freehold qualifi- 
cation was first adopted into the political system of Virginia, 
it excluded nobody, the object of that test being, not exclusion, 
but to offer an inducement to the young men to brave the wil- 
derness and widen the area of the settlements. The great 
landholders gladly co-operated in this policy by granting life 
terms, and thus that standard of qualification came to be 
moulded into the political fabric and adopted among the politi- 
cal ideas of Virginia. But when, owing to causes hereafter 
to be considered, the land system was disrupted by a consolida- 
tion of farms, and heirs ousted of their freeholds, the freehold 
suffrage was abolished and a lower property test substituted. 
To accomplish that reform a new constitution was fabricated. 
After the lapse of twenty years the number of non-property 
holders had greatly multiplied, for Virginia had reached a 
a further stage of decline. Even that lower test had become 
exclusive, and additional modifications had become necessary. 
Thus it is the constitutional reflects the social history of 
Virginia. 

2. At the period when the first Constitution was made, it 
•was amid violent heats and conflicts of opinion, and it was of 
great moment to conciliate the democratic elements in society. 
It is hardly probable that so politic a statesman as George 
Mason would have proposed, or the Convention have adopted, 
a scale of suffrage that would have shut out from the honors 
of that liberty, which they were invited to defend, the very 
men who were to bear the burden of the contest. 

3d. Gov. Randolph, in the Convention of '88, declared that 



HOW IT WAS CREATED. 105 

Virginia had begun the Revolution under a Constitution as 
democratic as that of Athens. It is highly improbable that, 
once in possession of the privilege of voting, the non- 
freeholder would have voluntarily relinquished it, and that at 
the outbreak and during the course of a revolution, when old 
foundations were loosened and broken up, that men, in the first 
transports of freedom, should, at the fiat of a revolutionary 
committee, submit to be despoiled of the proudest ornament 
and noblest prerogative of freemen. 

4. It is, to say the least, scarcely to be received as reason- 
able that the leaders of the Opposition in the Convention of 
1788, who strongly inveighed against the abuse of the repre- 
sentative system, should have spared this the greatest abuse 
of all. 

But the greatest imperfection in the Constitution, and which 
operated to the virtual disfranchisement of great numbers, even 
of the qualified voters, was the mode of representation which 
it ordained. Against that deep-seated malady, every just and 
"wise man lifted up his voice, more particularly when it was 
taken from beyond its original application and used to force, 
upon a reluctant and indignant people, a hated government. 
The Constitution ordained an equal representation to the seve- 
ral counties of the State, without respect to their size, the 
amount of taxation, population in gross, or the number of 
qualified voters. That the enormity of that abuse may be 
exhibited, I transfer to this page a table prepared by Mr. 
Jefferson, together with his judicious observations upon it : 
" Among those who share the representation, the shares are 
very unequal. Thus the county of Warwick, with only one 
hundred fighting men, has an equal representation with the 
county of Loudoun, which has 1746. So that every man in 
Warwick has as much influence in the government as seventeen 
men in Loudoun. But lest it should be thought that an equal 
intcrspersion of small among large counties, through the whole 
State, may prevent any danger to particular parts of it, we 



18,828 


46 


8 


7,673 


16 


2 


4,458 


16 


2 


49,971 


149 


24 



106 THE SECTIONAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

•will divide it into districts, and show the proportions of land, 
of fighting men, and of representation in each : 

Square Miles. Fighting Men. Delegates. Senators. 

Between the sea-coast and falls 

of the rivers, - - - 11,205 19,012 71 12 

Between the falls of the rivers 
and the Blue Ridge moun- 
tains, - - - - 18,759 

Between the Blue Ridge moun- 
tains and the Alleghany, - 11,911 

Between the Alleghany and the 

Ohio, - - - - 79,650 

121,525 

" An inspection of this table," continues Mr. Jefferson, 
" will supply the place of commentaries on it. It will appear 
at once that nineteen thousand men, living below the falls of 
the rivers, possess half the Senate, and want four members 
of possessing a majority of the House of Delegates, a want 
more than supplied by their vicinity to the seat of govern- 
ment. These nineteen thousand, therefore, living in one part 
of the country, give law to upwards of thirty thousand living 
in another, and appoint all their chief officers, executive and' 
judiciary." 

Counties, not population, being represented under that 
method, it so chanced that the counties of tide-water, where 
the cavalier or aristocratic interest chiefly prevailed, composed 
likewise that section which embraced all the small counties. 
And it was to them that the popularity of the proposed gov- 
ernment was, in a great measure, confined. In the midland 
and western counties, the strength of the Opposition was in- 
trenched. It is stated in the correspondence of Washington, 
that in the country contained within the upper James river and 
the Carolina border, the seat of a dense population, the people 
were almost unanimous against it. In confirmation, I will 
quote here an uncontradicted statement made by Mr. Henry, 
on the floor of the Convention, which will throw a flood of 



HOW IT WAS CREATED. 107 

light upon tlie effects produced by that vicious and anti-repub- 
lican method of representation. Speaking of the Constitu- 
tion, he says : " The great body of the yeomanry are in de- 
cided opposition to it. I may say with confidence that ^ for 
NINETEEN COUNTIES adjacent to each other, nine-tenths of the 
people are opposed to it.'' 

Had representation been according to any just standard, 
and more especially had it been in accordance with that now 
established, the Philadelphia scheme of government would 
have been tossed back upon the North — its birth-place, its 
natural patroness, and its proper home. But why was not 
the majority of the people, or at least a majority of the quali- 
fied voters, represented on that truly momentous occasion, 
when, in the language of Henry, " a revolution was proposed, ^ 
as radical as that which separated us from England?" We, 
who have inherited their places, and, with their places, the 
political thraldom of that undone and outraged people, have 
now the right, inalienable to the soil of Virginia, to demand, 
why the dregs of a corrupted and broken-down aristocracy, 
under the guidance of political aspirants, were suffered to 
immolate, upon the federal altar, the genius of Virginian 
liberty ? 

It was competent for the legislature to provide, as it was 
unquestionably its duty, a mode of representation by which 
the wishes of a majority of the voting population of the State 
should have been ascertained, with respect to so vital a change 
in their government as was proposed by the plan concocted at 
Philadelphia. The legislature, notwithstanding the shadow, 
which they called a constitution, but which sprung from no 
higher authority than the legislature, was indeed in possession 
of powers as boundless as those claimed by a British Parlia- 
ment.* It could alter, amend or abolish the ordinance which 



* It will be seen below that the Assembly did determine the yery questions 
of representation and suffrage in that case : 

" October 25tk, 1787. — The House, according to the order of the day, re- 
solved itself into a committee of the whole house, on the report of the Federal 



108 THE SECTIONAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

some have pleased to denominate a Constitution, at pleasure, 
as on previous, as well as subsequent occasions, they had 
altered and amended it. To prove how completely that in- 
strument was in the plastic hands of the Assembly, they 
changed the basis of representation in the Senate, an exer- 
cise of the very power in question. Of the tyranny produced 
by county representation, Mr. Baldwin, in 1829, says, " that 
it was a system which enabled one-third of the qualified voters 
to govern the whole ; which places the smallest county on an 
equal footing, as regards political power, with others ten 
times superior in population, territory and wealth." 

The Federal Convention had refused to have that work of 



Convention lately held in Philadelphia ; and, after some time spent therein, 
Mr. Speaker resumed the chair, and Mr. Matthews reported, that the com- 
mittee had, according to order, had the said report under their consideration, 
and had gone through the same, and come to several resolutions thereupon, 
&c., and are as followeth : 

"Resolved, ^c. That the proceedings of the Federal Convention, as trans- 
mitted to the General Assembly through the medium of Congress, ought to be 
submitted to a convention of the people, for their full and free investigation 
and discussion. 

"Resolved, ^c. That every citizen, being a freeholder in this Common- 
wealth, ought to be eligible to a seat in the Convention ; and that the people 
thereof ought not to be restrained in their choice of delegates by any of those 
legal and constitutional restrictions which confine them in their choice of 
members to the legislature. 

•' Resolved, ^c. That it be recommended to each county to elect two dele- 
gates, and to each city, town or corporation entitled, or who may be entitled, 
by law to representation in the legislature, to elect one delegate to the said 
Convention. 

" Resolved, ^c. That the qualifications of the electors be the same with 
those now established by law. 

"Resolved, ^c. That the election for delegates shall be held in the month 
of March next, on the first day of the court to be held for each county, city 
or corporation respectively ; and that the persons so chosen shall assemble 
at the State-house in the city of Richmond, on the fourth Monday in May 
next. 

"Resolved, ^e. That 2,000 copies of these resolutions be foi-thwith printed, 
and dispersed by the members of the General Assembly among their con- 
stituents ; and that the Executive transmit a copy of them to Congress, and 
to the legislature and executive of the respective States." 

These resolutions were embodied in an act of Assembly. 



HOW IT WAS CREATED. 109 

their hands submitted to the State Assemblies for ratification 
or rejection, preferring instead to appeal for a confirmation 
and ratification of that instrument to the people of the several 
States. Why was not that appeal made? or does "a third" 
of their number constitute the People ? 

The Opposition, composed of these popular elements, re- 
garded the ratification of the new Constitution as equivalent 
to a total subversion of the independence of the State, and a 
wanton sacrifice of her best interests: It was a subtle and 
elaborate contrivance by which the South was to be reduced 
to the dominion of the North, and its present and prospective 
wealth exposed to the avarice of that indigent section. Gov. 
Harrison, soon after the Constitution was published, expressed 
that general opinion to Washington, in a letter, in which he 
said: "If that Constitution is adopted, the South will become 
the mere appendage of the North." But just escaped from 
the vassalage of England, the people of Virginia were in 
no mood to contract under other forms a similar, but more 
burdensome relation with another power. They were not 
ready to make a tender of their bloody purchase to their 
Northern confederates. The fruits of the Revolution were 
too precious, they deemed, thus to be cast away. 

The publication of the Philadelphia plan found the popular 
mind in profound repose ; but soon that calm was broken by 
no gentle breeze.* A storm burst that shook the common- 
wealth to its centre. It reminded men of '70. New parties 
were soon formed, with new names to designate their respec- 
tive principles. For the first time in the nomenclature of 

* " A year before the meeting of the late Federal Convention at Philadel- 
phia, a general peace and tranquility prevailed in this country; but since 
that period, the people are exceedingly uneasy and disquieted. When I 
wished for an appointment to this Convention, my mind was extremely agi- 
tated for the situation of public affairs. I conceive the Republic to be in 
extreme danger. It arises from this fatal system, it arises from the proposal 
to change our government. * * * * Difference of opinion has gone to 
a degree of inflammatory resentment in different parts of the country, which 
has been occasioned by this perilous innovation." — Henry. 



110 THE SECTIONAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

American politics the name of "Democrat" was heard; for 
the first time as a party description was heard the name of 
"Federalist." In such stormy times were those parties cra- 
dled, which, through all vicissitudes, have divided the people 
of the United States. Then occurred that schism which now 
so deeply separates the minority from the great majority of 
the people of Virginia. Those ranged and hostile powers, 
under veteran and accomplished leaders, took the field, and, 
for near a twelve-month, the fierce debate continued. As save 
once before, such profound emotions had never stirred the 
hearts of the people, so never but once again will they madden 
the hearts of their posterity — when the ivorh of that day 
comes to he undone. 

Among the leaders of the Opposition, proudly eminent stood 
Patrick Henry. He had been the man of '76, and was again 
the great figure of '88. He was without a peer. Sprung 
from the middling order, he was the idol of the people. They 
loved him for his virtues, admired him for his eminent abili- 
ties, and trusted him for that courage and fidelity, which had 
been approved in the fires of the Revolution. They had fol- 
lowed him when threatened with the tyranny of Britain, and 
they now looked up to him to preserve them from the immi- 
nent peril that threatened to ingulf their liberties. Nor was 
their confidence bestowed without good reason. He was the 
ablest debater in the country, had collected ample stores of 
knowledge with which to illustrate and adorn whatever he 
touched, and withal was endowed with a sublime and match- 
less eloquence. So deeply penetrated were they with admi- 
ration for his talents and spotless virtue, that at this day, 
among their descendants, the name of Patrick Henry is pro- 
nounced not without veneration and love. An incident is 
related by Mr. Grigsby, which strikingly illustrates the temper 
of those times. At Charlotte Court House, upon the court 
green, previous to his attendance upon the Convention, an old 
hunter laid his hand on Mr. Henry's shoulder, and in allusion, 
I presume, to a reported defection among the Opposition 



HOW IT WAS CREATED. Ill 

leaders, said to him: "Old fellow, stick to the people; if you 
take the back track we are ruined." 

But the champions of the Constitution did not confine them- 
selves to public and private discussion, but appealed to those 
other weapons of political controversy which are only resorted 
to by bold and unscrupulous men in a high and inflamed state 
of parties. So soon as the banner of Federalism was unfurled, 
and the inclination of leading characters had become known, 
every avenue to the popular mind was choked with slander. 
The very atmosphere was impregnated by its foul breath. 
Patriotism and a demand for reasonable securities for the pub- 
lic liberty were tortured into sedition, and a well grounded 
apprehension of that vast accumulation of power at the centre, 
for which the new Constitution provided, was treated as incon- 
testible proof of ambition for local distinction, and a secret 
and unavowed desire to split the Union into independent and 
perhaps hostile communities. He who would indulge in the 
luxury of defamation, may gratify that horrid appetite by 
consulting the memorials of that period. 

In the general aspersion of motives, Mr. Henry did not 
escape. How could the Federal archer forego that shining 
mark ? More than once in debate he complained of the ma- 
lignant slanders fulminated against him because he would not 
desert what he believed to be the true interests of his country, 
and be dragged along in the Federal movement.* It reminded 
him of the only parallel which his life had afforded, when he 
contended with the same adversary under other names and 



* The malignant weapons employed by the Federalists in that contest, may 
be judged of by the letters of " Decius " puVjlished in the autumn of 1788, 
in the " Virginia Independent Chronicle," the numbers of which covering 
the period may be found in the State Library. The assaults were directed 
against the Democratic leaders generally, but against Henry in chief. Break- 
ing through the barriers that protect private life, his political enemies attacked 
and misrepresented his private transactions. But those unscrupulous parti- 
zans called defenders into the field, who, by evidence derived from the highest 
sources, exonerated Henry from their aspersions. (See answers to letters of 
Decius. Ibid. 



112 THE SECTIONAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

•with other professions. "Suspicions," said he, "have gone 
forth — suspicions of my integrity. It is publicly stated that 
my professions are not real. Twenty-three years ago I was 
supposed a traitor to my country ; I was then thought to be 
the bane of sedition, because I supported the cause of my 
country. I trust that there are many now that think my pro- 
fessions for the public good to be real." Once, during the ses- 
sion of the Convention, allusion more definite and personal 
•was thrown out against him. Henry haughtily demanded a 
specification of the charge, or an absolute retraction of it. The 
allusion was promptly disclaimed. On such high principles 
•was that great character framed ! of such an ethereal temper 
•was that gifted man ! 

Mr. Henry had been appointed among the delegates to 
attend the Convention at Philadelphia; and his name, as show- 
ing the place he occupied in the general estimation, stands 
next to the name of Washington. But he declined the ap- 
pointment, that he might stand uncommitted, as he conceived, 
to that work. In this he was betrayed, as I believe, into a 
grave error. This is not the place to present his idea of a 
general government and the extent to which he deemed reform 
to be necessary; but it differed essentially from the Consti- 
tution as framed. Had he been present at its construction, 
the weight of his talents and character, added to his sway at 
home, would have enabled him to confine the Convention 
within the limits of its appointment. There was a State-rights 
party in that body which repeatedly manifested a strong oppo- 
sition to the centralizing tendencies there prevalent, but it 
contained no man in its ranks who could compete with Madison 
and Wilson, the great debaters in the Convention. It is true 
George Mason and Luther Martin were there, and that the 
mind of the one was still as hard and as bright as diamond, 
and that the other was still strong in his maturity ; but old 
age, with its chilling effects, was creeping on Mason ; his ener- 
gies had lost somewhat of their elastic vigor; and the intempe- 
rate zeal of Luther Martin, coupled with the double connection 



HOW IT WAS CREATED. 113 

or Maryland with the slave States of the South and the small 
States of the North, inducing vacillation, disqualified her 
representative for the post of leader of the State-rights men. 
Had Henry been there, the great Tribune of the people, whom 
no threatened dissolution could appal and no sophistry delude, 
he would, beyond doubt, have controlled the action of that 
body. The State-rights party would have gathered around 
him, and federalism, discountenanced, would have been driven 
out of doors. Amendments would have been made to the 
Articles of Confederation, and he would have been able to stem 
the tide of innovation which swept everything before it. 



The Convention to ratify or reject the Constitution con- 
vened at Richmond on the 3d day of June, 1788. It was the 
most brilliant assemblage, whether for talent, for reputation or 
for learning, ever convoked in the Western world. The prin- 
cipal debaters on the part of the Opposition were Henry, 
Mason, Monroe and William Grayson. Next in reputation to 
Henry, George Mason deserves to be ranked. He was more 
remarkable for sagacity and an ironical wit than for the power 
of speech ; but yet such was the high estimation in which he 
was held by the people at large, that his simple opposition to 
the Constitution carried with it great weight. 

But William Grayson, if we may judge by those fragments 
of his speeches that have been preserved, deserves to be enu- 
merated among the most gifted sons of Virginia. His powers 
of reasoning were remarkable, and in that important debate 
he contended with Madison upon no unequal terms. He was 
a ripe scholar, and had studied history with the discriminating 
eye of a statesman. With the politics of the mother country 
he was familiar, and from a continued service in the Congress 
of the Confederation, he was thoroughly acquainted with the 
character of the people inhabiting every State, and was thor- 
oughly versed in the interests of the country. He had been 
employed, in company with Mason, in arranging the delicate 



114 THE SECTIONAL EQUILIBEIUM. 

and irritating questions of boundary that had existed between 
his own State and Maryland. The correspondence of Wash- 
ington exhibits the high estimation in which he held the abili- 
ties and public virtues of Grayson. He appears to have 
understood more perfectly than any of his cotemporaries, if 
we except Henry, the character of the Constitution, which he 
so vehemently opposed. He refused to debate the Constitution 
in its secondary character, as a compact between States, but 
he contended throughout, that it was sectional in its grand 
features. He did not partake of the debate in its earlier 
stages, but when he broke silence, it was evident that a great 
light had risen. Grayson and Richard Henry Lee, himself 
distinguished for his opposition to ratification, were the two 
first Senators elected from Virginia, but in the ripeness of his 
wisdom his career was cut short by death. Who now hears of 
Grayson? Henry has his statue, Madison lives in marble, but 
Grayson is almost forgotten. With so partial a hand do pos- 
terity distribute their honors among the dead ! 

The leading speakers, on behalf of the Constitution, were 
Madison, Gov. Randolph, John Marshall, George Nicholas and 
Edmund Pendleton. To this list must be added the name of 
Innes, then a young man of rising reputation. He was attor- 
ney general, and was pronounced by Patrick Henry and other 
competent judges, to have been one of the most eloquent ora- 
tors in Virginia. He did not speak often, but when he did, 
he spoke with effect. His view of the Constitution will be 
particularly referred to hereafter. He subsequently moved to 
Kentucky, and rose to judicial honors. 

Of this distinguished group, Madison, confessedly, stood 
first. Chief architect of the Constitution in its fundamental 
parts, he was its great advocate in the Convention. Above 
all others, its ratification by that body was referable to his 
exertions. Be his the glory, if there be glory, and his the 
grave responsibility of that act. He was, indeed, a Hercules 
in debate, and possessed in as great perfection as any man of 
his time, perhaps greater, if we except his illustrious rival, 



HOW IT WAS CREATED. 115 

Henry, the simple power of ratiocination. But it was not 
combined with the higher and rarer gift of wisdom, which, dis- 
cerning in causes the results to which they tend, reaches con- 
clusions by an intuitive perception of truth. He who is pos- 
sessed of this faculty, so elevated, indeed, so divine, often 
inarches many leagues in advance of his contemporaries, and 
foretells events to an unbelieving generation. It is only when 
this faculty is associated with eloquence and logic, and is en- 
nobled and strengthened by knowledge and political expe- 
rience, as in the rich and fine-strung intellect of Patrick 
Henry, that it is able to move the hearts of men and stamp its 
conclusions on the living age. Evidences are thickly strewn 
along the public career of Mr. Madison to show that he was 
possessed of the first, but not of the second quality of mind, 
and no part of his career is more replete with such evidence 
than that now about to pass under review. If the faculty of 
argument had been able to fly up on waxen wings to the eter- 
nal fountains of light, and, exploring the mysteries of truth, 
had revealed to that great master of logic consequences, which 
it did not and could not reveal, but which Henry clearly fore- 
saw and, in no mystic terms, foretold, that Federal pyramid, 
which now casts its cold shadow over Virginia, had not been 
reared. 

From the best analysis I have been able to make of the 
Debates in the Virginia Convention, the objections against the 
Constitution, as already indicated, may be classed under two 
heads. From them all others were derived. 1. That the \ 
magnitude of the powers intrusted to the federal agent would, / 
in their development, produce a consolidation of the States 
into one empire. 2. That the powers thus accumulated at the 
centre, were so distributed between the North and the South 
that, by the trick of a minority representation, the latter j 
would be brought under the political vassalage of the former. 

In the outset, Mr. Henry requested the speakers on the other 
side to gratify his " political curiosity " by informing him by 
what authority the Federal Constitution had used the phrase 



116 THE SECTIONAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

*' we, the people," instead of " we, the States." He regarded 
the employment of those words as tantamount to a fusion of 
the States into a single community. Madison promptly, and 
I think satisfactorily, responded, that those words were em- 
ployed to pass hy the immediate agency of the State legisla- 
tures, and procure for the new government a popular recogni- 
tion ; and that the mode of its ratification unquestionably 
established that fact. 

It does not fall within my object here to attend further to 
the discussion on this point, for I am convinced that the battle 
over the Constitution was fought on other grounds. Though, 
in its nature, it was a substantive objection to that instrument, 
yet it was considered as preliminary to those sectional ob- 
jections upon which the decision ultimately turned. Before 
leaving this portion of the Debates, it will not be out of place 
to advert to a very remarkable opinion advanced by Mr. Mad- 
ison in respect to the nature and structure of the proposed 
Constitution. It is in manifest contradiction to interpreta- 
tions of that enigmatical instrument afterwards insisted upon 
by him, and in contradiction, too, to many things which he 
subsequently uttered in the Convention. It will throw, if I 
mistake not, a strong light on the intellectual, if not on the 
moral, character of that distinguished man. It proves, be- 
yond doubt, that he came to the Convention, not for candid 
discussion — that he was not there as a searcher after truth, but 
to play the part of a juggling sophist. 

He presented to the Convention what Henry happily termed 
a piece of "political anatomy." " I can say, notwithstanding 
what the honorable gentleman has alleged, that this govern- 
ment is not completely consolidated, nor is it en'tirely federal. 
******* ff i^Q members to the national House of 
Representatives are to be chosen by the people at large, in 
proportion to the numbers in the respective districts. When 
we come to the Senate, its members are elected by the States 
in their equal and political capacity ; but, had the govern- 
ment been completely consolidated, the Senate would have 



HOW IT WAS CREATED. ll7 

been chosen by the people in their individual capacity, in the 
same manner as the members of the other house. Thus it is 
of a complicated nature, and this complication, I trust, will be 
found to exclude the evils of absolute consolidation, as well as 
of a mere confederacy." 

It will be remembered, that whilst the Federal Convention 
was employed in the perplexing task of organizing the legisla- 
tive department, four distinct interests aspired to its control : 
1. The small States, on the ground that an equality of repre- 
sentation was necessary to defend them from encroachments 
from the large States. 2. The large and populous States, 
because it was just, they contended, that political influence 
Bhould be measured by riches, extent and population. 3. The 
free-soil ; and 4. The slaveholding interests. It was a struggle 
for power, and each interest strove for its possession. 

It will be remembered furthermore, that, amid those jarring 
pretensions, the legislature was so framed as, in part, to ac- 
commodate all — wholly, none ; that the large States of the 
North, and the slave States of the South, compounded their 
differences by a fractional representation of slaves ; and that 
the controversy between the large States and the small was 
adjusted by giving to the small States an equal vote in the 
Senate. 

There is no evidence that the popular basis was insisted on 
for the purpose of consolidating the government in that 
feature. Certainly no evidence to that effect is contained in 
the report of the debates from Mr. Madison's own pen. In 
the first or popular branch of Congress, the large States and 
the slave States are represented ; in the second branch, the 
small States and, as was believed, the free States; but in both, 
the States. Mr. Madison, after applying the fractional basis 
to one house of the legislature, attempted, if we may credit 
his own account of that transaction, to have it applied to the 
other ; not for the purpose of making the government wholly 
consolidated, but for the purpose of engrafting the sectional 



118 THE SECTIONAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

equilibrium upon the Senate too. The different modes of rep- 
resentation finally resorted to, were for the understood object 
of representing different interests. But, in his attempt to 
apply the fractional basis to the Senate, he was deserted by 
his late allies, who went off under the lead of Gouverneur 
Morris, who was apprehensive that a Southern preponderance 
in every department would arise out of the slave basis. 

The executive office is rested, likewise, on a popular basis. 
In its origin, it bears a strong similitude to the popular branch 
of Congress ; the College of Electors being nothing more than 
a box in which the ballots are deposited. Is that department 
but another feature in which is exhibited the consolidated 
character of the government ? In the Senate alone are the 
federal properties of the government to be found ? If this be 
true, our debt of gratitude to Mr. Madison is much dimin- 
ished. This redeeming principle of the Constitution we owe, 
then, to Mr. Morris, who loved power in all its forms. We 
owe to him that we are not confounded in a general hotch-pot 
with Massachusetts, and that we are not of the blood and bone 
of the little pedlar of Rhode Island. 

If there is no evidence to be found in the history of the 
Constitution to give countenance to this bold asseveration, 
still less will be found in the manner in which it is constituted. 
In the organization of the Senate, confessedly federal, the 
people of the several States exercise control by means of their 
State legislatures. But, in the case of the House of Repre- 
sentatives, no such instrumentality is employed. In the one, 
the State Assemblies are the links of connection between the 
States and the central power; in the other, the people exer- 
cise power immediately. The individuality of the States is 
the point of distinction between a consolidated and a federal 
government, and that is preserved equally in both cases. If 
the appeal to the people for their sanction of the Constitution, 
through their State Conventions, did not consolidate the gov- 
ernment, as Mr. Madison has assured us it did not, it is 



HOW IT WAS CREATED. 119 

extremely diflScult to understand how the direct intervention 
of the people in a federal election could be productive of that 
consequence. 

But this doctrine of political amalgamation will be found to 
be as little comformable to the subsequent, as to the previous 
opinions of Mr. Madison. In the Resolutions and Report of 
'98 and '99, he bluntly declares that it "is a compact to 
which the States alone are parties." But this was after he 
had been " disgorged of his Federalism," if I may again quote 
the language of Henry, and had turned Democrat, when, under 
the inspiration of Jefferson, or rather under the inspiration of 
his own insatiable ambition, he was using his wonderful powers 
of argument to break through the federalist chain of succes- 
sion to Presidential honors. 

But it is not necessary to wait until 1798, in order to con- 
vict Madison of inconsistency on this important point. In the 
following year, in the first Congress which assembled under 
the new Constitution, not a twelve-month from the period of 
his collision with Henry, he declared that the government of 
the United States was a compact between sovereign States. 

In order to present a general idea of the views of the Demo- 
cratic leaders, I will venture upon an outline of the principal 
points of objection which they advanced in their speeches. It 
was argued against the act of Ratification, that the Constitu- 
tion was not made in accordance with the instructions which 
Virginia had given to her delegates to the Federal Conven- 
tion ; that they had been strictly enjoined to amend, not to 
abolish, the Federal Articles. Instead of which, the principle 
of Confederation had been abandoned, and that of Consolida- j 
tion taken. In that cardinal and wanton breach of trust, the 
proposed government had been cradled. That it had provided 
a mighty consolidated system was undeniable, Avhen the exten- 
sive range of the federal jurisdiction was considered in connec- 
tion with the doubtful, nay invisible, limitations put upon those 
powers. 

The Constitution, it is true, was, on its face, an instru- 



> 



120 THE SECTIONAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

ment of granted powers ; but was there any security, by the 
aid of artful construction, that it would not be made to draw 
every subject within its ample jurisdiction ? What was to 
prevent the federal government from silently absorbing the 
States ? Why was there not, insisted Mr. Monroe, some im- 
passible barrier, an equilibrium, established between the Federal 
and State powers ? No such barrier had been pointed out — it 
was clear that none existed. The only protection which the 
States would have against the central power would be paper 
securities, which it would be in the power of the former to 
violate at pleasure. Look at the money power of the new 
government, and the power to create offices and appoint sala- 
ries ; they were possessed without limit. The patronage from 
hence would be immense and overwhelming, when put in the 
scale against the State governments. The result would be, 
that whilst the new government would grow in influence, the 
States would be reduced to mere corporations, whose humble 
office it would be " to repair highways and bridges, and take 
care of the poor."* It had been admitted by the principal 
champion of the Constitution on that floor, that an absolute 
money power would, in efiect, render any government despotic, 
and it was perfectly clear that the instrument, the subject of 
their deliberations, would place in the hands of Congress a 
revenue, for the expenditure of which they would not be re- 
sponsible to the tax payers. 

The new government, insisted Mr. Henry, if adopted, would 



* It is a curious and interesting coincidence, that these very words, used 
by Mr. Henry to describe the humble occupation of ,the State governments 
under the new Constitution, should have been employed by Hume to describe 
the jurisdiction of the English Parliament during the reign of Elizabeth. Mr. 
Henry, like Chatham, to whom the English compare him, was a profound 
student of history : did he unwittingly employ the language of the historian, 
because his own mind silently traced the parallel between the new govern- 
ment and the despotic queen, and the State Assemblies and her subservient 
Parliament? The history of the house of Tudor had been published in 1759, 
and must be presumed to have found a place in the well-stored library at Red 
Hill. 



HOW IT WAS CREATED. 121 

prove to be an ambuscade against tlie public liberty. It had 
been conceded that the proposed Constitution had provided a 
government that was consolidated in its popular features. 
Did any man believe that a consolidated government would 
suit the condition of so extensive a country as the United 
States, inhabited by communities of such opposite character- 
istics and interests? What occasion had Virginia for a mighty 
government like that provided for? The adopting States 
might indeed stand in need of a strong external power, but 
such was not the case with Virginia. She was then the fore- 
most State in the Union, but if such a vast cession of power 
was made, she might be destroyed; it was impossible to see 
how she could be benefitted. Indeed, urged Mr. Grayson, it 
was to be apprehended, that by entering into so intimate an 
union with the North, a country now on the verge of bank- 
ruptcy, that the Northern States would get her wealth and 
1/ give back their poverty in exchange. The opponents of the 
proposed Constitution had been charged with a desire to break 
up the Union, but the charge was wholly destitute of truth. 
Whilst they believed that Virginia, stretching back to the 
Ohio and the Mississippi, would be able to maintain an inde- 
pendent establishment, they still desired a union with the North, 
but a union based on strictly federal principles. How mon- 
strous a proposition was this! to sacrifice the great State of 
Virginia, that they might create a vast central authority, 
according to the ideal of the politicians congregated at Phila- 
delphia. 

But if the new plan were regarded in the light of a com- 
pact between the North and the South, out of which a gov- 
ernment was to arise, its defects would be more conspicuous. 
The people of the North had manifested a decided inclination 
towards manufactures and navigation,* to which they would 



* "There is a striking difference and a great contrariety of interests be- 
tween the States. They are naturally divided into carrying and productive 
States. This is an actual existing distinction, which cannot be altered. The 



122 THE SECTIONAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

be compelled to resort for a living ; whereas the people of the 
South, invited by pleasant skies and a fruitful soil, were in- 
clined to the cultivation of the earth. This inclination would 
probably continue until population and redundant capital 
should qualify them for other pursuits. Out of that diversity 
of occupation there would necessarily spring a diversity of 
interests, upon which a national government would bear with 
unequal pressure; and thus the one would be sacrificed to the 
other. The true plan in constructing a general government 
was, to give it not even a colorable jurisdiction over such oppo- 
sing material interests, but to leave each State to govern itself 
in those particulars. But there were diversities of a moral na- 
ture, not less important, which ought to be attended to in the 
construction of a government for the two sections. These en- 
gendered contrary political and social tendencies, which had 
not been attended to in the distribution of federal power. 

1 The American States, insisted Henry, are dissimilar in their 

\/ structure, but this government will assimilate them. States 

dissimilar in their structure may unite in a confederacy, and 

\ from that very dissimilarity their confederated government 

j may derive a greater stability. The union among the States 

/ of Switzerland proves this. That union, notwithstanding that 

\ some of the States are aristocratic, others democratic in their 
frames, some Catholic, others Protestant, has for centuries 

; existed amidst the changeful and stormy politics of Europe. 
The diversities among us are not less striking. Whilst they 
would be preserved and tolerated by a Republic resting on the 
federal idea, it is manifest that a mighty national government 



\ 



former are more numerous and must prevail. What, then, ■will be the con- 
sequences of their contending interests, if the taxation of America is to go 
on in thirteen different shapes ? This government subjectt everything to the 
Northern majority. Is there not a settled purpose to check the Southern interest? 
We thus put unbounded power over our property in hands not having a com- 
mon interest with us. How can the Southern members prevent the adoption 
of the most oppressive mode of taxation in the Southern States, as there is a 
Northern majority in favor of the Northern States? " — Henby — Elliott, vol. 
iii, p. 311. 



HOW IT WAS CHEATED. 123 

like this, will destroy them. There will be brought about a 
uniformity, and when we see that power is deposited in North- 
ern hands, we need be at no loss to determine that the con- 
formity will be to the Northern model. 

Examine the taxing power, so delicate and important that, 
by the friends of the Constitution, it had been called its vitals, 
though, with better reason, it might be called the vitals of the 
people ; had that power been put under such restraints that it 
could not be abused to the injury of the South ? Every source 
of taxation had been thrown open, and if the North, operating 
upon Congress, should determine to collect the public dues 
from taxes on the foreign trade, would not the South, the im- 
porting and consuming section, contribute the principal part 
of the revenue ? This result, in the event supposed, it had 
been conceded, would follow ; and that it would follow, it was 
certain, when it was remembered that the North, the con- 
trolling power in the new government, would be interested in 
this mode of collection. It was worthy of remark, in showing 
the unskillful manner in which the Constitution had been put 
together, that it contained an express prohibition against tax- 
ing exports. Why had this prohibition been made ? Taxes 
on exports were a legitimate source of revenue sometimes re- 
sorted to by the governments of Europe. They were excepted 
in this case, for the avowed reason that they would operate 
with severity upon the South. Why had not some equivalent 
security been provided in the case of imports ? The import 
and export of a country are vitally connected, being but dif- 
ferent members of the same body, and protection from unjust 
taxation was as necessary in the one case as in the other. 
The only difference was, that a tax on the import was a more 
adroit way of reaching the pockets of the farmer and planter, 
and less palpable to the common eye. By an improper use of 
that power, it was perfectly evident that the commerce of the 
South might be crippled, and her whole industry paralysed. 
To obviate the force of this objection, an assurance had been 
given, that on account of this very inequality, the import trade 



124 THE SECTIONAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

of the country would be lightly taxed, and the public income 
principally derived from direct taxation ; that, out of those 
elements, the fiscal system would be compounded. But it was 
evident that the only ground for that assurance, or rather the 
sole origin of that hope, was the forbearance and equitable 
disposition of the Northern people — a people who, by proverb, 
valued money above all things else. " With respect," said 
My. Grayson, " to the citizens of the Eastern and Middle 
States, perhaps the best and surest means of discovering 
their general dispositions, may be by having recourse to 
their interests. This seemed to be the pole star by which 
the policy of nations is directed." It was quite impossible 
for any one to know what course things would take, or to 
foretell what use would be made of power. " When you grant 
titles of nobility," exclaimed Henry, quoting the language of 
Montesquieu, " you know what you do ; but when you grant 
power, you know not what you do." "We are wandering," 
continued the prophetic orator, " on the great ocean of human 
events, without chart or compass, and exposed to the mercy 
of every storm." 

But conceding, contrary to every human probability, that 
the federal revenue would principally be collected by direct 
taxation, was that power so guarded that it could not be em- 
ployed to the disadvantage of the slaveholding States ? A 
slight examination would show, that if the expectations, or 
rather the hopes, of the Federalists were realized in this par- 
ticular, that the South would be rescued from one danger, to 
be precipitated on another. A fixed ratio between direct taxes 
and representation had been established in the proposed gov- 
ernment. Upon this part of their work, its makers appear to 
value themselves highly. But in that very precaution, they 
manifest a suspicion of Northern integrity, and have provided 
for the South a seeming security against oppression. Thus it 
was that the symmetry and soundness of one part displayed 
the deformity and rottenness of other parts of their work. 
If it had been deemed important to protect the South against 



HOW IT WAS CREATED. 125 

an unjust exercise of the power of direct taxation, why had 
not some expedient been resorted to, to compel an equitable 
assessment of taxes, to be collected bj other modes, between 
the North and the South ? 

But was the security against an abusive exercise of the 
power of direct taxation of any real value ? After the quota 
of taxation for each State had been ascertained by the stand- 
ard of its representation, the Northern majority in Congress 
would doubtless so lay the taxes as to produce the least incon- 
venience to their constituents : the ballot box would be a suflS- 
cient security for that. But what security would the people of 
the slave or minority section have ? The Northern delegates 
would in no degree be responsible to them. That constituted 
a fatal defect in the government, and violated the fundamental 
principle of all republics, -which required that the governors 
should be elected by and responsible to the governed. This 
point was urgently put, by both Mason and Grayson.* In 
this connection, Mr. Henry said: "It -will destroy every prin- 
ciple of responsibility. We shall be taxed by those who bear 
no part in the taxes themselves, and who, consequently, will 
be regardless of our interests in imposing them. The efforts 
of our men will avail very little, when opposed by the Northern 
majority." Tfie Northern people had shown a great dislike 
to African slavery ; some of the States had already abolished 
it, and others were getting ready to follow their example; 
what would prevent a Northern majority from throAving the 
whole of Virginia's quota upon her slaves ? Would not that 
lead to speedy emancipation ? It was certain that no slave- 
holder would hold his slaves if they were exposed to the vin- 
dictive taxation of Congress. " He deplored," said Mr. Ma- 
son, "the existence of that species of property," but he would 
not consent to put it without the protection of its friends and 
at the mercy of its enemies. However it might have been in 
the beginning, it is certain that, now, " the people of Virginia 

* Elliot's Debates, volume iii. p. 275. 



126 THE SECTIONAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

could not do without their slaves." The danger of popular 
resistance had been suggested by Mr. Madison as a sufficient 
security against this abusive exercise of the taxing power. 
But that did not meet the argument. The question was con- 
cerning constitutional, not revolutionary remedies. Fortunate 
it was for the South, that if they would not give the first, the 
Philadelphia Convention could not deprive them of the second 
of these remedies. The true purposes of a Constitution had 
been misconceived, which were, to provide peaceful and legal 
remedies against bad laws, in order to obviate that very appeal 
to force, which had been pointed to. 

But the advocates of the new government, who appeared to 
be possessed of the power to loose and to bind, when pressed 
on this point, answered all argument with another assurance, 
but of a wholly different nature from the last, and contradic- 
tory to it, viz. that commerce would be made to support the 
government, and that direct taxes would be reserved " for ex- 
traordinary occasions, such as war," and then be used only as 
a source of credit. Into such glaring contradictions were the 
champions of the new Constitution driven — to such desperate 
shifts were they compelled to resort.* Were such, the leaders 
of the Opposition inquired, to be the fruits of the Revolution ? 
Were the people of Virginia, after all, to lie at the mercy of a 
master, and to be taxed without their own consent? the only 
consolation being, that the extorted treasure would go into 
Northern, instead of English pockets. 

The expenditures of the government would certainly be 
wasteful in the extreme ; for where there was no responsibility 



* Compare, and, if you can, reconcile the passage in which Mr. Madison 
Bays, that "direct taxes -will only be received for great purposes, as for war," 
&c,, {Elliot, vol. iii. p. 116,) with the one in a subsequent speech, in which 
he defends the propriety of vesting the government with the power to collect 
direct taxes, because of the disproportionate burthens which a revenue from 
imports would throw on the Southern States. It is in this speech that he 
epeaks of the "mixed" revenue system, referred to in the text. The latter 
passage, however, will be fully extracted, further on, in another connection. 



HOW IT WAS CREATED. 127 

in the collection, there could be no enonomy in the disburse- 
ment of the revenue. But mere extraA^agance was not the 
only, nor the greatest evil to be apprehended. The disburse- 
ment of great sums, running through an indefinite period of 
time, was almost as important as the collection of them. 
What security did the Constitution afford that the Northern 
majority, which had been deliberately enthroned in the new 
government, would not spend upon their own country, and for 
their own advantage, the vast treasures collected from the 
South ? They never would consent, they said, to a govern- 
ment, the revenues of which would be collected from one sec- 
tion, and expended on another. But, if it was looked at from 
another point of view, it would be found, in effect, to destroy 
that ratable contribution, by the North and South, provided 
for when the taxes should be paid by a direct appeal to the 
pockets of the people ; for, by means of the patronage of the 
government, the Northern tax payer would be reimbursed the 
amount of revenue collected from him. Thus that very ine- 
quality, so justly to be dreaded when the public dues are 
derived from duties on imports, would be produced by direct 
taxation. 

What security, they asked, would the South have against 
such abuses and oppressions ? A minority representation, 
wearing the hated badge of a section. That was the only 
barrier provided by the wisdom of the new Constitution to 
preserve the rich and populous South from pillage and oppres- 
sion by the half-starved and avaricious North. Could it for a 
moment be believed that the political characters of the South 
would, in emergencies, be true to their constituents, and prove 
unassailable by "Federal allurements." On the contrary, the 
Southern politician would be found a supple and subservient 
tool of Northern avarice, and be but too ready to countenance 
that legislative policy which would best commend them to 
those who would have the wealth and honors of the govern- 
ment to bestow. What good, they inquired, could be expected 
from a political system which places the virtue and the per- 



128 THE SECTIONAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

sonal interests of our public men at variance? Such a yoke 
would be more galling than the yoke of Great Britain, and 
rather than submit to it, it would be far better for the people 
of Virginia again to buckle on the sword and appeal to the 
God of Battles. 

But if the Philadelphia Constitution, they continued, be 
examined as a work of art, and be tried by received tests, it 
would be found to be as defective in theory, as in experiment 
it would prove unequ^ and disastrous. It was a task of no 
little difficulty, even under the most favorable circumstances, 
to frame a representative system, suited to the wants of a 
large community, which, whilst it was provided with a full 
measure of authority, would yet be so tempered by restraints 
that it would not be perverted to the public injury ; but in the 
case before them, the difficulty had been infinitely magnified 
by clashing interests, dissimilar, if not opposing* social systems 
and opposite political tendencies in the two grand divisions of 
the federal community. The existence of these deep-seated 
and ineradicable difl'erences was not denied — but yet that new 
plan of government contained no provision for them whatever. 
"Wisest men had taught, and their teachings had been enforced 
by the best lessons of history, that the selfish principle was 
the only rock on which a stable representative government 
could be founded, and that in every structure of that kind 
opposing interests and tendencies must be balanced by oppos- 
ing powers. Otherwise, that a portion of the community, if 
armed with power, would consult its particular interests, to 
the sacrifice of the particular interests of other parts of the 
country. 

A numerical majority was, therefore, to be looked upon as a 
dangerous power, and, in a country like the United States, 
would prove fatal to the prosperity of the minority. A ma- 
jority partaking, as in this case, of a sectional character, 
would have all the infirmities of individuals, and like them 
would require all the restraints which ingenuity and prudence 
could devise. A minority, in such a case, would wear the livery 



HOW IT WAS CREATED. 129 

and be characterized by all the badges of political servitude. 
Had the framers of the new Constitution paid the least atten- 
tion to those fixed and invariable principles of government? 
Had they introduced in their work securities correspondent 
to the peculiar interests to be found in the country ? On the 
contrary, they had invoked the terrible numerical majority, 
as the presiding genius of their government, and in the most 
reckless manner had turned it loose, under every provocation, 
to abuse power, to lord it over the Constitution and the coun- 
try. Its champions and advocates, it was true, talked of 
balances and checks, but none could be pointed out worthy of 
the name.* Paper checks and paper balances there might 
be, but paper checks and paper balances would be found to be 
inadequate to restrain an inflamed, malignant, and, perhaps, 
corrupt majority. Nothing but the iron curb of an absolute 
negative would do that. But those gentlemen, driven to every 
subterfuge, had at length been driven to rely on the federal 
judiciary, as a security worthy of the confidence of prudent 
men. But it must be remembered, that only a small number 
of cases could be brought before that bar of judgment ; but 
over corrupt abuses of power the court would have no juris- 
diction whatever. At the best, however, the federal courts 
could only be relied on as long as the judges should be disin- 
terested, wise and virtuous; but was it probable that they 
would continue long to possess those high attributes ? A little 
attention to the mode of their appointment would dispel that 
illusion, for the judges themselves were but an emanation 
of the numerical majority, made absolute monarch of the 
whole system; and yet to that department of the govern- 



* My honorable friend went on a supposition that the American rulers, 
like all others, will depart from their duty without bars and checks. No 
government can be safe without checks. Then he told us they had no temp- 
tation, to violate their duty, and that it would be their interest to perform it. 
Could not the same be said of all rulers ? Does he think you can trust men 
who cannot have a separate interest from the people ? — Henry — £11101' s De- 
bates, vol. iii, p. 310. 

9 



130 THE SECTIONAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

ment would be confided the power to declare the meaning of 
the Constitution, and define the extent of federal authority. 
That was, in its nature, a boundless power, and the judiciary, 
instead of being looked to to restrain the excesses of the more 
active branches of the government, would itself, above all 
others, stand in need of control. 

They conceded, they said, that the Constitution contained a 
Bet of congressional checks, but that did not reach the evil 
apprehended. Those checks had been framed on the model of 
the English legislature, but the resemblance was wholly super- 
ficial. Representation in the English Parliament was founded 
on the three estates into which the English nation was divided ; 
by that means an equilibrium or balance of power had been 
introduced in the government, which, above all other causes, 
had preserved it from^decay, and made it, notwithstanding 
admitted defects, the great temple of freedom in the world.* 

But no such divisions of society existed in the United States, 
and so far from interweaving the healing principle of an equi- 
librium, the sages of Philadelphia had subjected the federal 
machine, so complicated, to the control of that very despot. 
Numbers, against which the English Constitution had so care- 
fully guarded. Why did not these fabricators of constitutions 
imitate the interior structure as well as the outward form of 
that venerable establishment? Why attempt to deceive us 
with an outward similitude ? Why did they take only the 
rind — why did they snatch the flower and neglect the pre- 
cious fruit ? If they compared, Mr. Grayson contended, the 
proposed government, in its essential principle, with the ad- 
mired constitution of England, or with the models of Montes- 
quieu and Tacitus, its glaring defects would stand revealed to 

* "To me, it appears there is no check in that government. The Presi- 
dent, Senators and Representatives, all, mediately or immediately, are the 
choice of the people. Tell me not of checks on paper, but tell me of checks 
founded on self-love. The English government is founded on self-love. This 
powerful, irresistible stimulus of self-love has saved that Government." — 
Henry — Elliot's Debates, vol. iii, p. 174. 



HOW IT WAS CREATED. 131 

every eye. He did not propose, lie said, to transplant any of 
those governments to America. They would not suit the ge- 
nius of the people, nor the circumstances of the country ; but 
why not take the great principle common to them all, which 
was capable of universal application and would operate as well 
in the modern as in the ancient world — in America as well as 
in Italy, Greece or Great Britain ? 

But, after all, they concluded, good republics are the chil- 
dren of time and the creatures of gradual reform, and are 
never the product of human genius. The only safe course for 
the people to follow in respect to that momentous business, 
was to adhere firmly to the existing system, which was sound 
in its first principles, and from time to time, as defects might 
be manifested, to correct them, taking good care to provide 
safeguards against abuse. In that way, the government, grad- 
ually developed, would be adapted to the real wants of the 
people, and in process of time would attain a high degree of 
perfection. "Too much suspicion," argued Henry, "maybe 
corrected. If you give too little power to-day you may give 
more to-morrow ; but the reverse of the proposition will not 
hold. If you give too much power to-day, you cannot take it 
back to-morrow. To-morrow will never come for that purpose. 
If you have the fate of other nations, you will never see it. It 
is easier to supply deficiencies of power than to take back 
excess of power." In every case, it would be the act of pru- 
dence to pursue this course, but most of all, in this country, 
where new and powerful agencies were at work, and things 
were too much in the germ for any man to know what govern- 
ment would suit best. 

In pursuance of this argument, Mr. Grayson continued, 
" Keep on so, till the American character is marked with some 
certain features. We are yet too young to know what we are 
fit for. The continual migration of the people from Europe, 
and the settlement of new countries on our western frontiers, 
are strong arguments against making new experiments now in 
government. We ought to consider, as Montesquieu says, 



132 THE SECTIONAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

whether the construction of the government be suitable to the 
genius and disposition of the people." * 

The people of Virginia had resolved to follow this prudent 
course, and the Convention at Annapolis had been the first 
step in that direction, but that wise design had been frustrated 
by the rash and unauthorized conduct of individuals. The 
Convention which assembled at Philadelphia, had no doubt 
done their best, but it was impossible for any set of men, 
however enlightened, to lock themselves up for three months, 
and in that brief space pull down one political edifice and 
build up another in its place on entirely new foundations. The 
task which they had so rashly undertaken was, indeed, too 
great for human hands, and it had surprised no one, but the 
architects themselves, that their labors had proved abortive. 
In the same headlong spirit, and "with wild precipitation," 
they had come home to rush things through, and bring the 
States into a precipitate adoption of their work. But there 
was no need for haste. There was full time for deliberation : 
the country was at peace, the States disposed to union, and 
above all, a powerful majority of the people of Virginia, were 
known to be opposed to the proposed change of government. 
Let another Convention then be called, and let the people 
themselves be consulted that the delegates might go instructed 
as to their wishes. The adoption of the new government by 
seven States had been urged as a reason why they should 
adopt likewise, but, declared Mr. Henry, that if twelve States 
or twelve and a-half were to adopt it, " with a manly firm- 
ness, and in spite of an erring world, I would reject it." That 
Constitution, proposed for the adoption of the Convention, was 
not worthy of a free people. Let it be struck from the list of 
republics and classed with those of an arbitrary nature, to 
which it properly belonged. 

I will not attempt to give a summary of the arguments used 
by the Federalists.^ That would be an arduous, if not an impos- 

* Elliot's Debates, toI. iii. p. 270, 



now IT WAS CREATED. 133 

sible task. No two of them agreed as to the extent of the 
powers, or as to the true theory of the Constitution. But, 
according to the feeling of the House and the pressure of the 
debate, would they start new theories and suggest new expla- 
nations. In the outset, Mr. Madison and Gov. Randolph, as 
well from the superiority of their abilities, as from their attend- 
ance at Philadelphia, stepped into the arena of debate. They 
assumed high ground, but they were soon compelled to relin- 
quish it, and to take other positions, from which again they 
were compelled to retreat. They were sorely harrassed, and 
complained with good reason of "the bolts" which Henry 
threw with such strength and skill, as well as of the mocking 
scorn and satirical wit of George Mason. Never before was a 
party so torn and riddled by the projectiles of debate. They 
were beaten from post to pillow, and from pillow back to post. 
No candid reader can peruse that debate, even in the fragment- 
ary form in which it has been handed down to us, a medium 
all insufficient to convey the subtle wit, the withering scorn 
and the electric eloquence which burst from the ranks of the 
Opposition, without being convinced that the defenders and 
advocates of the Constitution, able and accomplished as they 
were, were driven back on every serious issue, and that the 
contest was, on their part, at best, but a running and desultory 
fight. In the outset the admission was frankly made, that 
the Federal Articles had been found to be so very defective as 
to set reformation at defiance, and, therefore, a government 
de novo had been created ; thus stultifying the opinion of the 
whole country,* and the wisest and best men in the country, 
that the Confederation needed only some additional powers to 
be adapted to the wants of the people. That plea, in extenua- 



* " How were the sentiments of the people before the meeting of the Con- 
vention at Philadelphia? They had only one object in view. Their ideas / 
reached no farther than to give the general government the five percentum / 
impost, and the regulation of trade. When it was agitated in Congress, in 
committee of the whole, this was all it asked, or was deemed necessary. — 
Grayson — Elliofs Debates, vol. iii. p. 2G8. 



134 THE SECTIONAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

tion of the conduct of the Virginia delegates, had been made 
by Randolph ; but Madison, as we shall see, took quite another 
view. It has not been forgotten, that Madison, in his anatomy 
of the Constitution, had pronounced the government in its 
nature to be partly national and partly federal. I suspect 
that that notion of a partial consolidation did not please, for 
consolidation, as Grayson declared, was abhorrent to the peo- 
ple of Virginia. But how could that amorphous beast, that 
nondescript monster, create less than horror? Tortured by 
the fiery javelines which Henry ever showered upon his head, 
Madison was compelled to abandon that loose and precarious 
raft, and embark the fortunes of the party of which he was 
head, on another bottom. With a fertility of imagination, truly 
wonderful, he invented a new ideal of the Constitution, to 
meet the present emergency. This is highly important, not 
because it shows the suppleness of Mr. Madison's constitutional 
theories, but because it displays the temper of the Convention. 
It proves beyond controversy, that if the true nature of that 
Constitution had been understood by its friends, had they 
known it as we know it, it would have been an object of general 
execration : even Madison would not have had the hardihood 
to recommend its adoption. 

This new theory of the Constitution is contained in the fol- 
lowing extract from one of his speeches : " Is it supposed that 
the influence of the general government will facilitate a com- 
bination between the members ? Is it supposed that it will 
preponderate against that of the State governments? The 
means of influence consist in having the disposal of gifts and 
emplogments, and in the number of persons employed hy, and 
dependent upon, a government. * * * * j ^^^^ gay, 
with truth, that there never was a more economical government 
in any age or country, one which will require fewer hands, or 
give less influence. * * * * The powers of the general 
government relate to external objects, and are but few, but the 
'power of the States relate to those great objects which imme- 
diately concern the prosperity of the people. Let us observe, 



HOW IT WAS CREATED. 135 

also, that the powers of the general government are those 
which ivill he exercised mostly in time of war, while those of 
the State governments will be exercised in time of peace. 
But I hope the time of war ivill be little compared to that of 
peace. I should not complete the view which ought to be 
taken of this subject, without making this additional remark, 
that the powers vested in the proposed government are not so 
much an augmentation of the powers of the general govern- 
ment, as a change rendered necessary for the purpose of giving 
efficacy to those which were vested in it before. It cannot 
escape any gentleman, that this power (the taxing power), in 
theory, is in the Confederation as fully as in this Constitution. 
The only difference is this, that now they tax the States, and 
by this plan they will tax individuals. There is no theoretic 
difference between the two.'' Pages 253, 254, vol. iii. 

Such was the view of the Constitution presented by him 
who has been proudly styled its father, whilst it depended for 
ratification ! A mere war establishment ! A vast power to 
slumber during peace, but at the first bugle note to spring up 
like an armed giant for the defence of the country ! An eco- 
nomical government ! the most economical government in any 
age or country ! a government that would move without hands, 
not having at its disposal those rich gifts and emoluments in 
which the means of influence consist ! Wise Mr. Madison ! 
far-sighted Mr. Madison ! sagacious Mr. Madison ! or shall we, 
changing style, say, ingenuous Mr. Madison ? Oh ! that you 
could have penetrated the future but seventy years, a shorter 
term than was allotted to yourself, and have seen the last bud- 
get of the Secretary of the Treasury, and the multitudes of 
flocking vultures that crowd the avenues of the Federal City ! 

Such was that political architect's conception of the proper- 
ties of his own work, such his ideal of the Federal Constitu- 
tion, whilst it lay inert, awaiting the Promethean touch, to 
start into powerful life. Away, thou dreamer ! Thy reveries, 
dressed in the sweetness and majesty of chaste rhetoric, bor- 
rowing the semblance of reality from the very mould of thy 



136 THE SECTIONAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

thoughts, and uttered, too, in the confident and solemn tones 
of an oracle, passed in thy day for wisdom. Yes ! thy visions, 
they peopled men's minds ! Thy fantasies, they governed 
men's acts. Virginia rose up and crowned thee with honors, 
and took thee to be among her household deities. Alas, for the 
predictions of men ! Alas, for the false gods which they ig- 
norantly worship ! Time ! thou breaker of images, when thou 
enterest the temple of the hero gods, thy march is silent and 
slow. The misty curtain at length rises, and conjecture is 
turned into knowledge. That future, which teemed with bright 
illusions, or was shadowed with dark prognostications, is ex- 
plored and laid bare by the searching hand of experience. 
Lo ! the prophet's gown falleth away, and his staflf from thy 
hand. Madison, thou must stand amid the monumental he- 
roes of Virginia, the deceiver of thy country — perhaps, thy- 
self deceived. 

But time, if it detects the false, reveals the true, and we 
turn, with a stronger faith, to kneel at the altar of true great- 
ness. Reverence, then, the prophetic warnings of George 
Mason, who, amid the snows of age, was animated by the fires 
of his lustrous genius ; of Monroe, of Harrison, of Tyler, of 
William Grayson, but chiefly of him, that bright paragon, to 
whom, amid the rank and fetid corruptions of the present 
hour, the people look back, as the faultless impersonation of 
all that was eloquent, wise, patriotic and most truly noble 
among the sons of men. Listen to their voices, uniting in sol- 
emn chorus as they come swelling along the galleries of time, 
warning their beloved countrymen not to enter into the deadly 
toils spread for their feet. 

If the general government was, in truth, designed only for 
the purposes of war, why, it was asked, was there so much 
power bestowed upon it, applicable only to peace ? Why had 
they not provided only "war taxes?" But, instead, a discre- 
tion unlimited in point of fact, because no power of control 
had been deposited with the minority, had been conferred to 
collect and disburse taxes, together with an unlimited power to 



HOW IT WAS CREATED. 137 

pledge the public credit. It was perfectly evident that there 
was no foundation in the Constitution for the unplausible 
theory that had just been enunciated ; it would turn out, as- 
suredly, that a gradual consolidation, or a violent dislocation of 
the Union between the sections, would follow. 

In respect to the supposed economy of the proposed govern- 
ment, Mr. Mason was unable to agree with Mr. Madison. On 
the contrary, he thought, " after the government was set in 
motion, all restraint would be gone. They would appoint 
what number of oflScers they pleased. They would send am- 
bassadors to every part of Europe. Here was, he thought, 
as wide a door for corruption as in any government in Europe. 
There is the same inducement for corruption, there is the same 
room for it in this government, which they have in the British 
government." (Vol. iii. p. 237.) Mr. Henry, addressing 
himself to the constitutional theory propounded by Madison, 
said, " that he (Mr. Madison) thought that the State govern- 
ments will possess greater advantages than the general gov- 
ernment, and will consequently prevail. His opinion and 
mine are diametrically opposite. Bring forth the federal 
allurements, and compare them with the poor contemptible 
things that the State legislatures can bring forth. On the 
part of the State legislatures, there are justices of the peace 
and militia officers, and the like. On the other hand, there 
are rich, fat emoluments — your rich, snug, fine, fat federal 
offices. The number of collectors of taxes and excises will 
out-number anything from the States. There are none in this 
country who can cope with this class of men alone. But, sir, 
is this the only danger ? Would to Heaven that it were ! If 
we are to ask which will last the longest, the State or the 
general government, you must take an army and a navy into 
the account. Lay these things together, and add to the 
enumeration, the superior abilities of those who manage the 
general government." (P. 307.) " A change of government," 
urged Mr. Henry, "will not pay money. If, from the proba- 
ble amount of imports, you take the enormous and extravagant 



138 THE SECTIONAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

expenses wliich -will certainly attend the support of this great 
consolidated government, I believe you will find no reduction 
of the public burdens by this new system. The splendid main- 
tenance of the President and of the members of both houses, 
and the salaries and fees of the swarms of officers and depend- 
ents of the government, ivill cost immense sums. Double sets 
of collectors will double the expense. To these are to be 
added oppressive excisemen and custom-house officers. Sir, 
the people have an hereditary hatred to custom-house officers. 
The experience of the mother country leads me to detest them. 
They have introduced their banefulinfluence into the adminis- 
tration, and destroyed one of the most beautiful systems that 
the world ever saw." 

It has been averred, that the real ground on which the con- 
test took place over the Constitution was the sectional charac- 
ter of that instrument. Evidence of this has been adduced; 
but I cannot, in justice to the subject, or in justice to that 
great political prophet, omit a passage from the leading speech 
of Mr. (jrrayson, applicable to this point, so replete is it with 
wisdom. After declaring that it was a struggle between the 
y North and South for empire, he proceeded to inquire, " Are 
not all defects and corruptions founded on an inequality of 
representation and want of responsibility ? My greatest ob- 
jection is, that it will, in its operation, be found unequal, 
grievous and oppressive. If it have any efficacy at all, it 
must be by a faction — a faction of one part of the Union 
against another. If it be called into action by a combination 
of seven States, it will be terrible indeed. We must be at no 
loss to determine how this combination will be formed. There 
is a great difference of circumstances between the States. 
The interests of the carrying States are strikingly different 
from that of the productive States. I mean not to give 
offence to any part of America, but mankind are governed by 
interest. The carrying States will assuredly unite, and our 
situation will then be wretched indeed. Let ill-fated Ireland 
be ever present to our view. We ought to be wise enough to 



HOW IT AVAS CREATED. 139 

guard against the abuse of such a government. Republics, in 
fact, oppress more than monarchies. If we advert to the page 
of history, we will find this disposition too often manifested in 
republican governments. The Romans in ancient, and the 
Dutch in modern times, oppressed their provinces in a remark- 
able degree. I hope that my fears are groundless ; but I believe 
it, as I do my creed, that this government will operate, as a 
faction of seven States, to oppress the rest of the Union.* 
But it may be said, that we are represented, and cannot, 
therefore, be injured. A poor representation it will be ! The 
British would have been glad to take America in, like the 
Scotch, by giving us a small representation.f The Irish 
might be indulged with the same favor by asking for it. Will 
that lessen our misfortunes ? A small representation gives a 
pretence to injure and destroy. * * * * rpj^g greatest 
defect in the new Constitution is the opposition of the compo- 
nent parts to the interest of the whole. For, let gentlemen 
ascribe its defects to as many causes as their imaginations may 
suggest, that is the principal and radical one. I have urged, 
that to remedy the evils, which must result from this govern- 
ment, an equal representation in the legislature and proper 
checks against abuse were indispensably necessary. (Pp. 273, 
274.) In this connection, Henry said, " Sure I am that the 
dangers of this system are real, when those who have no 
similar interests with the people of this country are to legis- 
late for us — when our dearest interests are to be left in the 

* This anticipation was literally fulfilled by the Convention of the Northera 
States, from which every slave State was excluded, to frame the tariff bill, 
which was afterwards adopted by Congress. That was the tariff of 1828, so 
justly styled "the bill of abominations." The history of this convention of 
Northern manufacturers is given by Mr. Giles, in an extract from one of his 
speeches, hereafter quoted in the text. 

f Mr. Grayson alludes to the proposition, which had received the approba- 
tion of the ministers of the crown, made by Galloway and others, that the 
difficulty with the colonies should be obviated, by allowing them representa- 
tion in the British Parliament. The colonies would have been allotted one- 
third of the representatives. But the proposition met with no favor from 
Congress. They claimed an equal vote. — Madison Papers, p. 833, 



140 THE SECTIONAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

power of those whose advantage it will he to infringe them." 
(P. 289.) 

The theory, as already stated, which confined the action of 
the new government to the exercise of its war power, affords 
sufficient evidence of the general opposition, in the Conven- 
tion, to a strong central authority ; but there were individuals 
who concurred with Mr. Madison, in his preference for a gov- 
ernment of that nature. This preference was avowed by Col. 
Henry Lee, whose experience, as a soldier, had given him 
a strong bias for an energetic government ; but I have 
searched in vain for any sentiment uttered, by even the most 
bigoted Federalist of them all, which implied a willingness, 
through the agency of a constitutional compact, to place the 
South, for any duration of time, under the dominion of a 
Northern majority. All were opposed to that. Even Madison 
did not venture to reconcile them to that idea. Looked at in 
that light, the arguments of the Opposition, based on the 
absence of the necessary "bars and checks," were overwhelm- 
ing against the Constitution. The Federalists admitted, that 
the Constitution was a struggle for power, but managed to 
convince the Convention, that the South would have the best 
of the bargain, and would preponderate, at least, in those de- 
partments of the government where power was immediately 
derived from the people. The means by which that result was 
to be produced, and power taken out of the hands of the 
North and given to the South, will be presently brought to the 
attention of the reader. 

But, first, as an act of justice to the men who officiated on 
that occasion, and who were chiefly instrumental in sacrificing 
their country and fixing upon her the heavy yoke of the 
Northern despotism, I will insert in these pages the abhor- 
rence which they expressed of an event so much dreaded by 
the Democrats. The evidence will leave no doubt upon any 
mind, that, had they been as deeply versed in the philosophy 
of government as the leaders of the Opposition, they would 
have united with that patriot band to reject the political 



HOW IT WAS CREATED. 141 

edifice so hastily constructed at Philadelphia. But, as it was, 
the event afforded but another proof of how little wisdom 
governs the world. 

" Of all things in the world," profoundly remarked John 
Randolph, of Roanoke, "a government, whether ready made 
to suit casual customers, or made per order, is the very last 
that operates as its framers intended. Governments are like 
revolutions : you may put them in motion, but I defy you to y 
control them after they are in motion." 

" On a candid examination of history, we shall find that 
turbulence, violence and abuse of power, hy the majority 
trampling on the rights of the minority^ have produced fac- 
tions and commotions, which, in republics, have, more fre- 
quently than any other cause, produced despotism. If we go 
over the whole history of ancient and modern republics, we 
shall find their destruction to have generally resulted from 
that cause. If we consider the peculiar situation of the 
United States, and what are the sources of that diversity of 
sentiments which pervades its inhabitants, we shall find great 
danger to fear that the same causes may terminate here, in 
the same fatal effects, which they produced in those republics. 
This danger ought to be wisely guarded against. Perhaps, in 
the progress of this discussion, it will appear, that the only 
possible remedy for those evils, and means of preserving 
and protecting the principles of republicanism, will be found 
in that very system which is now exclaimed against as the 
parent of oppression." (!! ) — (Madison — Elliot, vol. iii., 
p. 109.) 

The speaker docs not explicitly state that slavery was the 
source of diversity between the two classes of States, but the 
allusion is perfectly clear from his speech in the Federal Con- 
vention, in which he proposed an equilibrium between the 
North and the South. On that occasion he said, it will be 
remembered, that " the real difference between the States was 
in having or in not having slaves." The speeches, taken to- 
gether warrant the following conclusions : 1. That majorities 



142 THE SECTIONAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

are, in their nature, tyrannous, and, from the peculiar situa- 
tion of the United States, growing out of the diversity in re- 
spect to slavery, would be productive of the same fatal effects 
here that had been experienced in the ancient and modern 
republics. 2. That the adoption of that Constitution would 
be found to be the only possible remedy against the occur- 
rence of that evil. 

This ought to vindicate the motives of Mr. Madison from 
the intention to place his country in a situation to be plun- 
dered and oppressed by the Northern majority, which at that 
time he so much deprecated. Were it not for his course sub- 
sequent to the adoption of the government, 4t would hush the 
voice of blame, when it would lay upon his memory responsi- 
bility for his headlong and precipitate action. 

" The evils that are most complained of in such governments 
(and with justice) are faction, dissension and consequent sub- 
jection of the minority to the caprice and arbitrary decision 
of the majority, who, instead of consulting the interest of the 
whole community collectively^ attend sometimes to partial and 
local advantages. To avoid this evil is, perhaps, the great 
desiderata of republican wisdom ; it may well be termed the 
philosopher's stone. Yes, sir, this evil will he avoided hy this 
Constitution. * * * * It is impossible that this govern- 
ment, which will make us one people, will have a tendency to 
assimilate our situations. It is admirably calculated to pro- 
duce harmony, and can never admit of an oppressive combi- 
nation of one part of the Union against the other." — Corbin 
—Elliott, vol. iii, p. 126. 

"The taxing power is the lungs of the Constitution. If it 
be sick, the whole system is consumptive, and must soon decay ; 
and this power can never be dangerous, if the principles of 
equal and free representation be fully attended to. While the 
right of suffrage is secured, we have little to fear. The gov- 
ernment, sir, fully secures us this noble privilege, on the purest 
and simplest principles of equality." — Corbin — Ihid, p. 128. 

"As long as the privilege of representation is well se- 



HOW IT WAS CREATED. 143 

cured, our liberties cannot be well endangered. I conceive it 
to be secured in this country more fully than any other." — 
Lee — Ihidj p. 191. 

" But I observe, with regret, that there is a general spirit 
of jealousy with respect to our Northern brethren. Had we 
this political jealousy in 1775 ? * * * * Did we then 
expect that, in case of success, we should be armed against 
one another ? I ivould have submitted to British tyranny^ 
rather than to Northern tyranny^ had what we have been told 
been true, that they had no part of that philanthropic spirit 
which cherishes fraternal affection, unites friends, enables 
them to achieve the most gallant exploits, and renders them 
formidable to other nations. Gentlemen say that the States 
have not similar interests, that what will accommodate their in- 
ests will be incompatible with ours ; and that the Northern 
oppression ivill fetter arid manacle the hands of the Southern 
people. Wherein does the dissimilarity consist ? Does not 
our existence as a nation depend on our union ? Is it to be 
supposed that their principles will be so corrupted, and that 
they will be so blind to their own true interests, as to alienate 
the affections of the Southern States, and adopt measures 
which will produce discontents, and terminate in a dissolution 
of an union as necessary to their happiness as to ours ? Will 
not brotherly affection rather be cultivated ? Will not the 
great principles of reciprocal friendship and mutual amity be 
constantly inculcated, so as conciliate all parts of the Union? 
This will be inevitably necessary, from the unity of their in- 
terests with ours. To suppose that they would act contrary 
to these principles, would be to suppose them to be not only 
destitute of honor and probity, but void of reason ; not only 
bad, but mad men. 

" The question is as important as the revolution which sepa- 
rated us from the British empire. It rests now to be deter- 
mined whether America has, in reality, gained by that change 
which has been thought so glorious, and whether those heca- 
tombs of American heroes, whose blood was so freely shed at 



144 THE SECTIONAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

the shrines of liberty, fell in vain, or whether we shall estab- 
lish such a government as shall render America respectable 
and happy. * * * * -^Te are told that the New Eng- 
landers mean to take our trade from us, and make us hewers 
of wood and drawers of water, and the next moment that 
they will emancipate our slaves. How inconsistent is this ? 
* * * * Let us try it ; experience is the best test. It 
will bear equally on all the States, from New Hampshire to 
Georgia : and as it will operate equally on all, they will all 
call for amendments ; and whatever the spirit of America calls 
for, must, doubtless, take place immediately." — Innes. 

" But the influence of New England and other Northern 
States is dreaded ; there are apprehensions of their combining 
against us. Not to advert to the improbability and illib- 
erality of this idea, it must be supposed, that our population 
will, in a short period, exceed theirs, as their country is well 
settled, and we have very extensive uncultivated tracts. We 
shall soon outnumber them in as great a degree as they do ua 
at this time ; therefore this government, which, I trust, will 
last to the remotest ages, will be, very shortly, in our favor." 
— George Nicholas, (pp. 121, 122.) 

But it is unnecessary to multiply evidence of the belief of 
the Federal party of the Convention of 1788, that the result 
of the proposed experiment in federal politics, would not be 
to subject the South to a Northern majority in the new gov- 
ernment. It was true, that there was an actual Northern 
majority in the popular branch of Congress, but that majority 
was small, and it was believed that the next census would 
redress the inequality. 

It is known that distribution of power was made with refer- 
ence to a flow of population, which at that time had begun, 
from the sterile regions of the North, to the rich but unculti- 
vated plains of the South, and that Mr. Madison and those 
who acted with him relied confidently upon that transfer of 
population, which they made but another name for political 
power, from the one section to the other — that shifting of 



HOW IT WAS CREATED. 145 

weights from the Northern to the Southern scale, either to 
create a Southern preponderance or to produce the desired 
balance. It is known, likewise, that the Constitution was 
agreed to in view of that actual emigration, and we shall after- 
wards ascertain whether it was not made with reference to it. 
But it is proposed, at present, to show that it was ratified, by 
Virginia at least, under the full belief that that tide of emi- 
gration would continue. The opinion that it would continue 
was universal, and Mr. Mason reluctantly acquiesced in it. 
He said: "The same gentleman assured us that though the 
Northern States had a most decided majority against us, yet 
the increase of population among us would, in the course of a 
few years, change it in our favor. A very sound argument, 
indeed, that we should cheerfully burn ourselves to death in 
the hope of a joyful and happy resurrection." (Pp. 260, 261.) 

" The people of New England have purchased great quan- 
tities of lands (in Kentucky), great numbers of them have 
moved thither." — Nicholas, (p. 238.) 

" The increasing population of the Southern States is far 
greater than that of New England : consequently, in a short 
time, they will be far more numerous than the people of that 
country." 

But the vigilant and unsleeping leaders of the Opposition 
were not satisfied with the assurance held out by the Federal- 
ists. They said that the Northern majority could not be 
trusted, even for a short time, with power in such a govern- 
ment as that which had been just created, and that they would 
interfere with the natural course of events, and take away the 
inducements to Southern immigration, and thus retain con- 
trol of the government. It was impossible, they said, to 
know in advance what device they would adopt to attain 
that result, but there was room to apprehend that the 
right to navigate the Mississippi would be given up to Spain, 
according to the demands of her diplomacy. The effect of 
such a cession would be to destroy the value of agriculture 
in the west and south-west, and put a sudden stop to Northern 
10 



146 THE SECTIONAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

emigration. This fear, tliej said, was not idle, for a recent 
attempt had been made bj the Northern interest in Congress 
to achieve that very result, although it involved a gross and 
flagitious violation of the Federal Articles. Upon that issue 
the vote of Kentucky depended, and, by the agreement of all 
parties, the Convention went into committee of the whole on 

The Mississippi Question. 

Owning the mouth of the Mississippi, as well as being one 
of its riparian proprietors, Spain contended for the right to 
close the outlet of that river. Great Britain, and afterwards 
the United States, contended, that by the public law the dwell- 
ers on the upper waters of a great highway like the Missis- 
sippi, were possessed of the right of free navigation, and even 
the right to establish upon its banks a place of deposite for 
merchandise. Upon the establishment of that claim depended 
the value of that western country, to which, as we have ob- 
served, migration was tending. It was an old question, and 
had vexed the diplomacy of the United States from the time 
that they took their position among independent nations. It 
was a question of great delicacy on the part of the United 
States ; for if that right, which the western settlers claimed, 
freely to navigate that river, were surrendered, they had, by 
unmistakable evidence, manifested their intention to tear 
themselves from the American Union, and assert their preten- 
sions at all hazards. An inveterate feud already existed be- 
tween the borderers on the Spanish dominions and the Spanish 
authorities. It had given birth to bands of desperate adven- 
turers, who often made sanguinary forays. The aggressions 
were generally from the American side, and Virginia had 
enacted severe laws to punish them. During the late war, 
when the American cause was most depressed, it was, when 
resistance was prostrated in South Carolina and Georgia, and 
Virginia had stripped herself of troops for their defence, that 
a proposition had been submitted in Congress, by Virginia and 
other States of the South, to accede to the Spanish pretension, 



HOTV IT WAS CHEATED. 147 

as the price of a military alliance with the Spanish croAvn. The 
cause of the Revolution seemed almost desperate and the South 
was ready to sacrifice that great object to its success. 

But the relinquishment was opposed by the North, and par- 
ticularly by the New England States, who were actuated in 
this by motives of self-interest. They apprehended, if it were 
once begun to yield claims of that nature, that the claims 
which they had set up to the fisheries, so important to their 
existence, might, in turn, be sacrificed to the same policy. But 
as soon as the war terminated and New England was no longer 
apprehensive on the score of the fisheries, its policy, as well 
as the policy of the other Northern States, underwent an 
important change. The Southern States, so soon as the press- 
ure of public necessity had been removed, reverted to their 
old position in respect to their claim to the free navigation of 
the Mississippi.* Not population, but the number of States, 



* Wednesday, November 29, 1786. — Resolved, That a copy of the memo- 
rial of sundry inhabitants of the western country, ought to be forthwith trans- 
mitted to the delegates representing this State in Congress. 

Resolved, That the common right of navigating the river Mississippi, 
and of communicating with other nations through that channel, ought to be 
considered as the bountiful gift of Nature to the United States, as proprietors 
of the territories watered by the said river and its eastern branches, and as 
moreover secured to them by the late Revolution. 

Resolved, That the Confederacy, having been formed on the broad basis of 
equal right in every part thereof to the protection and guardianship of the 
whole, a sacrifice of the rights of any one part to the supposed or real interest 
of another part, would be a flagrant violation of justice, a direct contraven- 
tion of the end for which the Federal Government was instituted, and an 
alarming innovation on the system of the Union : 

Resolved, therefore, That the delegates representing this State in Congress, 
ought to be instructed, in the most decided terms, to oppose any attempt that 
may be made in Congress to barter or surrender to any nation whatever, the 
right of the United States to the free and common use of the river Missis- 
Bippi ; and to protest against the same as a dishonorable departure from that 
eojnprehensive and benevolent policy which constitutes the vital principle of the 
Confederacy ; as provoking the just resentments and reproaches of our western 
brethren, whose essential rights and interests would be thereby sacrificed and 
told; as destroying that confidence in the wisdom, justice and liberality of 
the Federal Councils, which is so necessary, at this crisis, to a proper enlarge- 



148 THE SECTIONAL EQUILIBKIUM. 

■was the source of political power under the Articles of Confed- 
eration. But as population composed States, and it was a 
struggle with the North or free-soil States to ohtain control 
of the federal agent, the statesmen of the North were desirous, 
by the means already referred to, to stop the flow of popula- 
tion to the west and south-west, and drive it back upon the 
unoccupied lands of Maine, then a province of Massachusetts. 
In pursuit of this policy, Massachusetts had reduced the price 
of land in Maine to one dollar per acre. But that inducement 
was not sufficient to make the emigrant prefer the inhospitable 
region of the Penobscot to the fertile and undulating prairie 
lands of Kentucky or the fruitful vales of Frankland, a name 
then given to the western district of North Carolina. It was 
necessary that the navigation of the Mississippi should be 
relinquished, in order to realize their hopes, but the North 
could not command the requisite number of votes in Congress 
to authorize a treaty, without the concurrence of some slave 
State. But no slave State would agree to lend a helping 
hand to that business, and so matters were brought to a stand. 
But Northern statesmen, true to their national instincts, were 
nothing dismayed by constitutional obstacles. They sought to 
obtain that object by a fraudulent device unparalleled for its im- 
morality in the history of American legislation. The plan was 
this : To obtain from Congress instructions to the Secretary of 
State, Mr. Jay, to negotiate a treaty with Spain, upon the 
basis, that the claims of the United States to the Mississippi 
should not be conceded, and then to have that part of the 
instruction which concerned that condition revoked, which they 



ment of their authority ; and finally, as tending to undermine our repose, 
our prosperity and the Union itself; and that the said delegates ought to be 
further instructed to urge the proper negotiations with Spain, for obtaining her 
concurrence in such regulations touching the mutual and common use of the 
said river, as may secure the permanent harmony and affection of the two 
nations, &c." — Journal House Delegates. 

Patrick Henry and Grayson were both in the House of Delegates when 
these resolutions were adopted, and it is easy to detect in them the handi- 
work of those illustrious patriots and statesmen. 



HOW IT WAS CREATED. 149 

contended might be done by a simple vote of tlie majority in 
Congress, which was composed of Northern men. But would 
the Secretary of State prostitute his office to that base object? 
In this they met with no difficulty whatever, for Mr. Jay proved 
to be a supple instrument* in their hands. The benefit to be 
derived by the North from this act of treachery was a free com- 
merce with the Spanish dominions, both in Europe and Americaj 



* "As to the American Secretary, the goodness of his private character is 
not doubted. It is his public conduct which we are to inspect. The public 
conduct of this Secretary goes against the express authority of nine States. 
Although he may be endowed with the most brilliant talents, I have a right 
to consider his politics abandoned." — Henry — Elliot's Dehates,\o\. iil, p. 383. 

About the existence of this intrigue, and the culpable agency of Jay, there 
is no room for doubt. Independent of the positive evidence of Monroe, 
Grayson and Henry, we have that of Madison himself, notwithstanding the 
different colors in which he sought, the following year, to invest the trans- 
action. Here is what he writes from Congress, 19th March, 1787, to his con- 
fidential friend, JeflFerson: "The Spanish project sleeps. A perusal of the 
attempt of seven States to make a new treaty, by repealing an essential con- 
dition of the old, satisfied me that Jay's caution would revolt at so irregular 
a sanction. A late accidental conversation with Gardoqui proved to me, that 
the negotiation is arrested. It may appear strange that a member of Con- 
gress should be indebted to a foreign minister for such information, yet, such 
is the footing on which the intemperance of party has put the matter, that it 
rests wholly with Jay how far he will communicate with Congress, as well as 
how far he will negotiate with Gardoqui. But it appears that the intended sac- 
rifice of the Mississippi will not be made; the consequences of the intention and the 
attempt are likely to .be very serious. I have already made known to you, 
the light in which the subject was taken up by Virginia. Mr. Henry's dis- 
gust exceeds all measure, and I am not singular in ascribing his refusal to 
attend the Convention to the policy of keeping himself free to combat or 
espouse the result of it, according to the result of the Mississippi business, 
among other circumstances." Consult his letter to Randolph, 25th March ; 
but his letter to JeflFerson, in April, is direct on this point: "This Spanish 
negotiation is in a very ticklish situation. You have been already apprised 
of the votes of seven States, last fall, for ceding the Mississippi for a term of 
years. From sundry circumstances it was inferred, that Jay was proceeding under 
this usurped authority. A late instruction to him to lay the state of the nego- 
tiation before Congress, has discovered that he has adjusted . with Gardoqui an 
article for suspending the use of the Mississijtpi by the citizens of the United States. 
The report, however, leaves it somewhat doubtful how far the United States 
are committed by this step, &c." That was the school in which the clear- 
eighted Grayson acquired his estimate of Northern character, but its lessons 
fell unheeded upon the cold and insusceptible nature of Madison. 



/ 
150 THE SECTIONAL EQUILIBEIUM. 

affording a profitable market for the grain and flour of the 
Middle States, and for the oils, fish and lumber of New Eng- 
land. Gardoqui was on the ground, with instructions to con- 
clude a treaty with the United States on those terms. But 
this scheme, so cleverly contrived, miscarried in its execution ; 
for when the proposition was made in Congress to repeal that 
part of the Secretary's instruction which related to the Missis- 
sippi, and the Northern members impudently contended that it 
lay within the power of a mere majority, it raised so great a 
tempest, that the conspirators were frightened from their pur- 
pose. There is no doubt that, had they possessed the hardi- 
hood to have acted upon their plans, it would have produced 
a violent dissolution of the Union between the two sections. 

The question for the committee of the whole was, under 
which Constitution the claims of the South to the Mississippi 
were safest from spoliation by the federal government. All 
admitted that constitutional securities were necessary. The 
Democrats contended that the Articles of Confederation afford- 
ed the best guaranty ; the Federalists, that the best protection 
would be found under the new government. The weight of 
the argument, undoubtedly, was on the side of the latter. By 
the terms of the Confederation it required nine States to au- 
thorize a treaty, and which, as things stood, armed the South 
with a veto upon the improper use of that power. But the 
admission of other States, sympathizing in interest with the 
North, would destroy the value of this check ; and the danger 
was imminent, that other States of that character would soon 
be admitted into the Union. Vermont was already an appli- 
cant for admission. At any time a sufficient number of settlers 
might be huddled together into the province of Maine to give 
it an independent establishment. 

But the danger did not stop here. As early as 1784, a 
committee of Congress had reported a proposition to divide 
the north-west territory ceded by Virginia to the United States, 
into ten States, each State to be admitted into the Unfon on 
a footing of equality with the other States so soon as its popu- 



HOW IT WAS CKEATED. 151 

latlon should be equal to that of the smallest State of the 
Confederation. Against that scheme of sectional aggrandize- 
ment the Federal Articles offered no security. 

But by the proposed government, a designated proportion 
of votes, instead of a definite number of States, was required 
to wield the power of making treaties. This promised a per- 
manent veto to those States interested in the navigation of 
the river. But the agency of the President in the negotiation 
of treaties afforded, in the opinion of the Federalists, the most 
positive check. Mr. Nicholas said: "But, says he, the con- 
currence of the President, in the formation of treaties, will be 
no security. Why so ? Will he not injure himself, if he in- 
jures the States, by concurring in an injudicious treaty ? How 
is he to be elected? Where will the majority of the people 
be? He told you that the great weight of population will be 
in the Southern part of the United States. Their numbers 
will weigh in choosing the President, as he is to be elected by 
Electors, chosen by the people in proportion to their numbers. 
If the Southern States be interested in having the Mississippi, 
and have weight in choosing the President, will he not be a 
great check in favor of this right?" 

The fallacy of Mr. Nicholas' argument is very apparent. 
It is based on the retention of the Mississippi until the migra- 
tion from North to South should give those interested in its 
navigation the power of self-protection. But the argument of 
the Opposition was, that the claim in question would be relin- 
quished to Spain before the anticipated event could come to 
pass, and before the power to elect the President would pass 
from the hands of the Northern into those of the Southern 
people. 

Mr. Grayson closed the debate on the Mississippi question, 
with the following forcible remarks : 

"Mr. Chairman, I conceive the investigation of this sub- 
ject, which materially concerns the welfare of this country, 
ought not to wound the feelings of any gentleman. / look 
upon this as a contest for empire. Our country is equally af- 



152 THE SECTIONAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

feeted with Kentucky/. The Southern States are deeply in- 
terested in this subject. If the Mississippi be shut up, emi- 
gration will be stopped entirely. There will be no new States 
formed on the western waters. This will he a government of 
seven States. The contest of the Mississippi involves this 
great national contest, that is, whether one part of the conti- 
nent shall govern the other. The Northern States have the 
majority, and will endeavor to retain it. This is, therefore, a 
contest for dominion, for empire. I apprehend that Crod and 
nature have intended, from the extent of territory and fertil- 
ity of soil, that the weight of population should be on this 
side of the continent. At present, for various reasons, it is 
on the other side. This dispute concerns every part of Ken- 
tucky." 

The citations from the debates, contained in the previous 
pages, show clearly enough the opinion of the Federalists, 
that agencies were in operation which would give the weight 
of population to the South, and consequently, if the pro- 
posed Constitution were ratified, that the South would be the 
seat of empire. This result Mr. Madison himself prognosti- 
cated, though there were others of his party who, with Gov. 
Randolph, believed that something like a balance of power 
would be established in the course of a short period. But the 
speakers in favor of ratification preferred to hold out the hope 
of ultimate dominion as more probable, or, at least, more 
palatable to those whose votes they sought to influence. 

The ratification ultimately turned on the question of pre- 
vious or subsequent amendments. The latter prevailed by a 
majority of eight votes. After that course was determined 
upon, the Constitution was adopted as a matter of course. 
But before this vote was taken, Mr. Henry declared: "I shall 
have nothing to do with it, if subsequent amendments be de- 
termined upon. Oppressions will be carried on by the major- 
ity, when adjustments and accommodations will be held up. 
I say, I conceive it to be my duty, if this government is 
adopted before it is amended, to go home. I shall act as my 



HOW IT WAS CREATED. 153 

duty requires." But for reasons, afterwards to be explained, 
he did not pursue this course. Party feeling, towards the 
close of the session, became very embittered. If Mr. Henry 
had stuck to the resolution to withdraw from the Convention, 
in the event that subsequent amendments were resolved upon, 
there is but little room to doubt that a ratification by that 
body would have been disregarded by the people. He re- 
solved on another course, but that course involved him in a 
labyrinth of intrigue, in which he proved to be no match for 
his accomplished opponent. But before the fatal step of rati- 
fication had been taken, and impressed with the solemnity of 
the occasion, he uttered these memorable words: "The voice 
of tradition, I trust, will inform posterity of our struggles for 
freedom. If our descendants be worthy of the name of 
Americans, they will preserve and hand down to the latest 
posterity, the transactions of the present times ; and though I 
confess my explanations are not worth the hearing, they will 
see I have done my utmost to preserve their liberty." 

Tyler echoed that sentiment : " I wish to hand do^Yn to pos- 
terity my opposition to that system. British tyranny would 
have been more tolerable." 

So soon as the Constitution was ratified, a committee was 
appointed, of which Mr. Wythe was chairman, to report a 
Bill of Rights and such amendments to the Constitution as the 
Convention deemed to be necessary and proper. These had 
been already drafted and proposed by Henry, and may, there- 
fore, be considered as indicative of the opinions of the Demo- 
crats as to the particulars in which that instrument was con- 
sidered most defective. No exception was taken to any 
part of the report, except the third article of the proposed 
amendments. But that article was of the highest importance, 
and was regarded by the Federalists as of such force as, if 
adopted, greatly to modify the nature of the new system, and 
to impair the strength of that federal giant which they had 
just called into existence. It was expressed in these words: 
" When Congress shall lay direct taxes or excises, they shall 



154 THE SECTIONAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

immediately inform the executive power of each State of the 
quota of such State, according to the census herein directed, 
which is proposed to be thereby raised, and if the legislature 
of any State shall pass a law which shall be effectual for the 
raising of such quota, at the time required by Congress, the 
taxes and excises laid by Congress shall not be collected in 
such States." 

The motion to strike out that article from the amendments 
was lost by a majority of 20 votes, and exhibits how little pop- 
ularity the Constitution possessed in that body. For when the 
taxing power conferred on the new government was under exam- 
ination, the absence of such a provision was greatly insisted 
upon by the Opposition speakers. The vote then, on that amend- 
ment, was a substantial victory over the Constitution as it is. 

But it is important in another respect. Mr. Madison had 
been compelled to admit the unequal distribution of taxes 
which would be collected through the custom house, and that 
the inequality would be to the injury of the South. He had 
succeeded in convincing a majority in the Convention that, on 
account of that very inequality, the revenues would, for the 
most part, be collected by having a direct recourse to the pro- 
perty of the people. As the power of direct taxation is now 
never recurred to by Congress, that amendment, to which such 
great value was attached, would have been rendered wholly 
nugatory ; but the Convention voted, believing that it would 
provide a certain protection for the slaveholding section 
against the burden of unequal taxation. 

The opinion which a majority of that body entertained of 
the efficacy of subsequent amendments, shows the wonderful 
hallucination under which they acted. In vain were they 
warned that their amendments would be disregarded. They 
would listen to nothing but their own idle and extravagant 
hopes. The influence of Madison and Randolph, and Nicholas 
and Pendleton, was in the ascendant, and that influence was 
thrown on the side of an immediate ratification. 

The delegates furnish evidence that the long list of amend- 
ments was regarded by both parties in the Convention in the 



HOW IT WAS CREATED. 155 

light of a condition subsequent, -with "whicli they confidently 
believed the great influence of Virginia in the Union "would 
ensure a literal compliance. But in this they greatly erred, 
as events soon proved ; for that temple of liberty, which they 
vainly imagined the new Constitution to be, was resolutely 
converted into the barred and bolted prison in which the inde- 
pendence of Virginia has been incarcerated. That such was 
the general understanding, we have the explicit evidence of the 
great Federalist leader himself. On the eighth of June, the 
following year, he brought forward the Virginia amendments 
to the notice of Congress. On that occasion he used the fol- 
lowing language : " I considered myself bound in honor and 
in duty to do what I have done on this subject, to proceed to 
bring the amendments before you as soon as possible and advo- 
cate them until they shall be finally adopted or rejected by 
a constitutional majority of this house." Why bound in honor 
and in duty to propose amendments, against one of which, and 
that the most important of the series, he had voted — why bound 
to advocate them, unless for the reason before stated ? Some 
of the States had joyfully adopted the Constitution without 
any condition whatever. This was the fact in regard to Con- 
necticut, and Delaware had ratified by an unanimous vote. 

The language used by Mr. Gerry in Congress, on the 8th of 
June, shows the importance attached to subsequent amend- 
ments by the States which had proposed them. " The ratifi- 
cation of the Constitution in several States would never have 
taken place, had they not been assured that the objections 
would have been duly attended to by Congress. And I believe 
many members of those Conventions would never have voted 
for it if they had not been persuaded that Congress would 
notice them with that candor and attention which their import- 
ance requires." 

"When the amendments were first introduced by Mr. Madi- 
son, the government had not been organized, and no revenue 
had been provided to meet public expenditures. The Congress 
would not listen to the propositions until the government 



156 THE SECTIONAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

should be firmly seated in the federal throne. Then Mr. Vin- 
ing, alluding to the principal amendments proposed by Virginia, 
boldly declared, " There were many things mentioned by some 
of the State Conventions which he would never agree to on any 
conditions whatever ; they changed the principles of the gov- 
ernment, and were, therefore, obnoxious to its friends." 

Congress treated, as Mr. Henry had foreseen and predicted, 
the Virginia Amendments with contempt ; but the legislature, 
at that time the vigilant guardian of the rights of Virginia, 
took the matter up, and, on the 14th November, 1788, deter- 
mined to transmit a remonstrance and an application to Con- 
gress, in the words following. It was presented, not by Mr. 
Madison, whose course had lost him the confidence of the 
Assembly, but by Mr. Bland, another of the delegates from 
Virginia : 

" Virginia, to wit : — In General Assembly, Nov. 14, 1788 ; 

" Resolved, That an application be made, in the name and 
on behalf of the legislature of this Commonwealth, to the 
Congress of the United States, in the words following, to wit : 

" The good people of this Commonwealth, in Convention as- 
sembled, having ratified the Constitution submitted to their 
consideration, this legislature has, in conformity to that act, 
and the resolutions of the United States in Congress assem- 
bled, to them transmitted, thought proper to make the arrange- 
ments that were necessary for carrying it into efl'ect. Having 
thus shown themselves obedient to the call of their consti- 
tuents, all America will find that, so far as it is dependent on 
them, the plan of government will be carried into immediate 
operation. 

" But the sense of the people of Virginia would be but in 
part complied with, and but little regarded, if we went no 
farther. In the very moment of adoption, and coeval with the 
ratification of the new plan of government, the general voice 
of the Convention of this State pointed to objects no less in- 
teresting to the people we represent, and equally entitled to 



HOW IT WAS CREATED. 157 

our attention. At the same time that, from motives of affec- 
tion to our sister States, the Convention yielded their assent 
to the ratification, they gave the most unequivocal proofs that 
they dreaded its operation under its present form. 

" In acceding to the government, under this impression, 
painful must have been the prospects, had they not derived 
consolation from a full expectation of its imperfections being 
speedily amended. In this recourse, therefore, they placed 
their confidence — a confidence that will continue to support 
them, whilst they have reason to believe that they have not 
calculated upon it in vain. 

" In making known to you the objections of the people of 
this Commonwealth to the new plan of government, we deem 
it unnecessary to enter into a particular detail of its defects, 
which they consider as involving all the great and unalienable 
rights of freemen. For their sense on this subject we beg 
leave to refer you to the proceedings of their late Convention, 
and the sense of the House of Delegates, as expressed in their 
resolutions of the thirtieth day of October, one thousand seven 
hundred and eighty-eight.* 

*' We think proper, however, to declare that, in our opinion, 
as those objections were not founded in speculative theory, but 
deduced from principles which have been established by the 
melancholy example of other nations in different ages, so they 
will never be removed, until the cause itself shall cease to 
exist. The sooner, therefore, the public apprehensions are 
quieted, and the government is possessed of the confidence of 
the people, the more salutary will be its operations, and the 
longer its duration. 

" The cause of amendments, we consider as a common 
cause ; and, since concessions have been made from political mo- 
tives, which, we conceive, may endanger the republic, we trust 
that a commendable zeal will be shown for obtaining those 
provisions, which experience has taught us are necessary to 
secure from danger the unalienable rights of human nature. 

* See Appendix I. 



158 THE SECTIONAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

" The anxiety with which our countrymen press for the ac- 
complishment of this important end, will ill admit of delay. 
The slow forms of congressional discussion and recommenda- 
tion, if, indeed, they should ever agree to any change, would, 
we fear, be less certain of success. Happily for their wishes, 
the Constitution hath presented an alternative, by admitting 
the submission to a convention of the States. To this, there- 
fore, we resort as the source from whence they are to derive 
relief from their present apprehensions. 

" We do, therefore, in behalf of our constituents, in the 
most earnest and solemn manner, make this application to 
Congress, that a convention be immediately called, of deputies 
from the several States, with full power to take into their con- 
sideration the defects of this Constitution that have been sug- 
gested by the State Conventions, and report such amendments 
thereto as they shall find best suited to promote our common 
interests, and to secure to ourselves, and our latest posterity, 
the great and unalienable rights of mankind. 

" John Jones, Speaker Senate, 

" Thos. Mathews, Speaker Ho. Del." 

This application, when taken in connection with evidence 
already adduced, leaves no doubt that the Constitution was 
ratified in Virginia under the belief that the amendments, 
which she might propose, would be adopted as a part of the 
instrument, and that, but for that conviction, it would have 
been rejected. No serious attention was paid to that remon- 
strance by the body to whom it was addressed ; they had Vir- 
ginia in the federal yoke, and they meant to keep her there. 

It is a fact worthy the attention of those who eulogize the 
memory of Madison, that, although he declared himself to be 
bound in honor and in duty to present and advocate the amend- 
ments proposed by the Virginia Convention, that he only pre- 
sented and advocated a portion of them, and that portion, 
those of a secondary importance. His excuse for that partial 
performance of his obligation was that, from the temper of 



HOW IT WAS CREATED. 159 

Congress, it would be useless to propose any that would radi- 
cally aflFect the power of the new government. 

I will now bring to the knowledge of the present generation 
a fact, in the secret history of Ratification, which, until this 
time, has escaped notice. It is the darkest chapter in the 
history of the Federalist party of 1788, and will consign to 
merited reproach those who participated in that transaction. 

With a popular majority, according to the computation of 
Henry, as great as three-fourths of the voting population of 
Virginia, against the Constitution, it may well excite surprise, 
that the Convention, notwithstanding the partial mode of 
representation which prevailed, was not impressed with the 
same opinions. A majority of delegates opposed to a ratifica- 
tion was elected, but it was lost before the close of the session, 
and, by mismanagement and intrigue, shifted to the Federal 
scale. This assertion rests upon evidence of the most unques- 
tionable character. 

The Constitution of the committee of elections, and the 
favorable reception of its reports by the Convention, notwith- 
standing the many irregularities in the conduct of the elec- 
tions, determines the political character of that body. That 
committee was composed of a majority of Democrats, and at 
its head was placed Gov. Harrison, who was distinguished, 
even in those heated times, for his determined and unwearied 
opposition to the new government. There were contested 
elections from five counties, and, in every instance, the seats 
were adjudged to the sitting members, who, with a single 
exception, voted with Henry and Mason. There is not the 
slightest evidence that the decision, in each case, was not 
warranted by law ; yet, from the unscrupulous means to which 
the Federalists were ever ready to resort, negative proof is 
afforded that they were not in the ascendant in the early 
stages of the Convention. 

It gives me pain to relate, that chief among the turn-coats 
was Gov. Randolph. He was then chief magistrate of the 



160 THE SECTIONAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

State, and, after attending at Philadelphia, had, along with 
his colleague. Col. Mason, refused to sign the Constitution, 
and had justified that refusal in a letter to the speaker of the 
House of Delegates. On the strength of that letter, and 
■without solicitation, as he informs us, he had been elected to 
the Convention by the freeholders of Henrico county. Even 
before the Convention assembled, suspicions had got abroad 
that the unexpected popularity of the Constitution had -wrought 
a change in Randolph, and had abated the strength of his 
opposition to it. Washington informs La Fayette : " The 
Crovernor, if he opposes it at all, will do it feehly." That in- 
formation "was given in a letter -written about the end of April. 
But when the Convention met, irresolution had passed, and 
his Excellency openly left his party, and took a position in 
the ranks of their opponents, where he was distinguished as 
the staunchest Federalist of them all. 

The elections had been held in the month of March. The 
Convention was to have deliberated in May, but, by an adroit 
movement of those able tacticians, the Federal leaders, they 
contrived to get the session postponed until June, in the hope 
that its deliberations might be influenced by the example of 
other States. But, for that postponement, it is agreed that a 
ratification was hopeless. Randolph himself admits that, but 
for that event, he should have voted against the adoption of 
the new government. That his constituents were opposed to 
the Constitution is an undoubted fact, established by the testi- 
mony of John Marshall, his colleague. Marshall was a Fede- 
ralist, and declares that he owed his election from a Demo- 
cratic county solely to his personal popularity. Randolph 
addressed a letter to his constituents, in which he sought to 
vindicate, or, at least, excuse the step which he had taken. 
But why did not he resign his commission, and, in his new 
character, seek a renewal of the trust? The contagion spread. 
Others followed in the footsteps of Randolph, — countenanced, 
influenced, perhaps determined, by his example. The defec- 
tion of that distinguished public man, with its effect upon the 



HOW IT WAS CREATED. 161 

final vote, is established by the clearest and strongest evi- 
dence. In no terms of discourtesy, it was alluded to by 
Henry in debate, yet the allusion produced a violent collision 
with Randolph. His outburst of temper and muttered threats 
disclosed a mind ill at ease. 

Washington, though at Mount Vernon, was kept informed 
of the progress of things in Richmond, and it is from his cor- 
respondence that the following facts are derived. 

On the 4th of June, Madison wrote to him, as follows : 
*' Yesterday little else was done than settling some questions 
of form, &c. To- day, the discussions commenced in committee 
of the whole. The Governor has declared the day of 'previous 
ainendments over, and thrown himself into the Federal scale. 
The Federalists are a good deal elated at the existing pros- 
pect. I dare not speak with certainty of it." Here, not only 
is the fact of Randolph's change of sides related, as important 
intelligence,* but that, previous to that time, Randolph had 
demanded previous amendments, as a condition of his adhesion 
to the Constitution — the ground upon which the Opposition 
stood in the Convention. The letter likewise reveals the fact, 
that that defection from the Democratic ranks had elated the 
Federalists with sudden prospects of success, but that the- 
writer still doubted the event. Is it not a fair inference froni 
it, too, that the original majority was opposed to the views of 
the Federalists ? 

A few days later, Bushrod Washington wrote to his uncle a 
letter, which confirms the evidence contained in Madison's 
letter. The writer says, "Mr. Henry, on Thursday, called 
upon the friends of the proposed plan to point out the objec- 
tions to the present Constitution. This challenge, which was 

* In giving Jefferson an account of the actors in the Convention, one of his 

correspondents ■writes: "The G r exhibited a curious spectacle to view. 

Having refused to sign the paper, every body supposed him against it; but ho 
afterwards had written a letter, and, having taking a part which might bo 
called rather vehement than active, he was constantly laboring to show that 
his present conduct was consistent with that letter, and that letter with hia 
refusal to sign." — Jefferson to Short, Sept. 20th, 1788. 
11 



162 THE SECTIONAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

given with tbe appearance of confidence, drew from tlie Gov- 
ernor yesterday a very able and elegant reply for two hours 
and a half; for I suppose you have been informed of Mr. 
Randolph's determination to vote for the proposed govern- 
ment." 

So important and unexpected an accession to their party 
would naturally excite interest among the advocates of the new 
Constitution residing in other States. We accordingly find, 
that soon after the reception of those letters, and in conse- 
quence of the information they contained, Washington writes 
to Jay : " That Randolph' s declaration will have consider- 
able effect with those who had been hitherto wavering.'' It 
appears to have been decisive ; for Bushrod Washington, in 
continuation, informs the General : " R'owever, I am not so 
sanguine as to trust to appearances, or even to flatter myself 
that he made many converts. A feiv, I have been confidently 
informed, he did influence, who were decidedly in the Opposi- 
tion." This proves, beyond doubt, that the hopes of a ratifi- 
cation rested upon conversions to be made from the other side. 
What effect the conversion of a few at that critical moment 
produced on the result, we are at no loss to determine. On 
the 18th of June, Washington again writes to La Fayette, as 
to the chances of the Constitution in Virginia : " So nicely," 
says he, " does it appear to be balanced, that each side asserts 
that it has a preponderance in its favor." On the test vote 
it will be remembered that ratification prevailed by a majority 
only of eight votes. Four men, in consequence, held the bal- 
ance between the parties, of whom Randolph was one. Whether 
the language of Bushrod Washington will embrace three men, 
must be left to the determination of the reader. Who were 
the " wavering " members, who at so late a day halted between 
two opinions on a question which had agitated the popular 
mind to its lowest depth ? The correspondence of Washing- 
ton does not disclose their names. But this we know, they 
represented no wavering constituencies. The question was far 
too important for any portion of the people of Virginia to 



HOW IT WAS CREATED. 163 

maintain a neutrality in respect to it. The people never hesi- 
tate, never doubt on occasions of such moment, and it is cer- 
tain that no delegate left his constituents uninformed with 
respect to their wishes on so vital a question. That such was 
the fact in that case, is proved by the letter of Washington to 
"Wilson, April 4th : " Some judgment,'" says the General, 
^^ may he formed, ivTien the members cJiosen hy tlie several 
counties are hnoivn ; as their sentiments ivill he decided and 
their choice determined hy their attachment or opposition to 
the proposed system." 

Those waverers were all Democrats. It is no where inti- 
mated that any of the Federalists betrayed their constituents, 
or that the Opposition recruited their ranks from among the 
friends of the new system. The conversions were all from the 
other side. Upon this point Washington is again conclusive. 
On the 8th June, he replies to Madison, who without doubt made 
good use of that letter in the dark intrigue of which the Conven- 
tion was the scene, " What I mostly apprehend, is that the in- 
sidious arts of its opposers, may have produced instructions to 
the delegates, that would shut the door against argument and 
he a bar to reason." But the apprehension was without good 
reason, for the delegate who violates instructions given at the 
polls, will take little heed of any other expression of the pop- 
ular will. Thus were the freeholders of Virginia disfran- 
chised and the foundations of representative government 
torn up.* 

Of the political character of this transaction, I presume 
only to speak. Its morality I leave to the consciences of good 
men and the judgment of mankind. With the acts, not 
the motives of men, it is my province here to deal ; and " since 
this is the first law of history, that it should neither dare to 
utter a falsehood, nor in the next place want the courage to 
speak the truth, I have taken sincere pains to bring up the 

* See Appendix II. 



164 THE SECTIONAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

truth, which oftentimes lay deeply buried under the passions 
of the quarrelling parties."* 

In the fullness of time the tree bore its appointed fruit ; for 
the chief actors in that drama lived to enjoy the highest emol- 
uments and honors of the new government. But it is ours, 
amid the degeneracy and decay of Virginia, to drink deep of 
the bitter waters which have thence issued. Upon one of 
them only was the hand of retributive justice laid. His shield 
was reversed, his good name ravished away, and the lustre of 
a great and shining character dimmed forever by that gov- 
ernment which he had forced upon his countrymen, and by 
that stern man for whom he had prepared that seat of power. 
So terrible are the punishments of God ! t 

There is a show of right in superior power to which men 
submit, there is a native majesty in force, to which the weak 
bow down; but the Federalists, unable to command that, 
evoked a subtle and wicked fiend for their service — Fraud — 
and well did he serve his masters. It was by that diabolical 
agency that the Constitution was riveted on the free people of 
Virginia ; it was thus that the cunning circumvented the wise, 
and the feeble overpowered the strong. 

That men less established in wisdom and the sense of duty 
should have been blinded by selfishness, and entangled in the 
meshes of expediency, does not excite my surprise; but that 
"Washington should have lent his countenance to the bad 
faith towards the constituent body, does excite both my grief 
and wonder. 



* De Thou's History of his Own Time — Dedication. 

j- I feel little inclined to credit accusations against a Southern man coming 
from the Northern phalanx. Washington was not perfectly suited to the jug- 
gling scenes around him, and those characters soon acquired an undue influ- 
ence over his administration. They drove Jefferson from the Cabinet, 
poisoned the heart of Washington against him, and pursued his successor, 
even in retirement, with prosecutions, slanders and confiscations. The 
league was so compact, as to make Madison desert his first love. But they 
crowned all when they made one of their own set, ever conspicuous for ma- 
lignant hatred of the South, the next President. Was not that desecration ? 



HOW IT WAS CREATED. 165 

Surprise is not diminisliecl when we learn his own impartial 
estimate of the merits and defects of the new Constitution. 
On the 18th September, 1787, when the ink with which the 
Constitution was written was scarcely dry, he thus writes to La 
Fayette concerning it: ^^It is noiv a child of fortune, to be fos- 
tej'ed by some and buffeted by others. What ivill be the general 
opinion on the reception of it, is not for me to decide ; nor 
shall I say anything for or against it. If it be good, I sup- 
pose it tvill loork its tvay ; if bad, it will recoil on its framers." 
In another place he says: " There are some things in the neio 
form, I will readily acknowledge, which never did, and I am 
persuaded never tvill, obtain my cordial approbation.'' He 
was not specific as to the particular parts of the new plan 
which had excited his objection, but it may well be inferred 
that the objections were of no trivial nature. When the letter 
to La Fayette was penned, the civil war by which society in 
New England had been rent, was Scarcely extinguished, and 
the public mind, consequently, of the entire North was agi- 
tated and inflamed. Notwithstanding the unsettled condition 
of the North, Washington had determined to leave the new 
Constitution to its fate. But in June, 1788, that section of 
the country had settled down to the pursuits of peace, and 
was enjoying that new spring which industry had received. 
This change in the General's course, in respect to this im- 
portant matter, is referable in some degree to the ambitious 
and able men Avho had gathered around him, all of whom were 
strenuous advocates of the proposed change. Party spirit, 
too, had begun to flame high, and of that spirit, it is known, 
the nature of Washington was strongly susceptible. 

Governor Randolph, conscious that his action in the Con- 
vention of 1788 would be reviewed by posterity, has left his 
vindication of it. He was justly numbered among the intel- 
lectual lights of a period fruitful in great men, when Patrick 
Henry, William Grayson, Richard Henry Lee, Thomas Jef- 
ferson, George Mason, and Madison shone with unsurpassed 
splendor. It is no pleasing task to visit with blame a man 



166 THE SECTIONAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

like Randolph, but great and gifted as lie was, this event of 
his life must not escape that condemnation which it so justly 
merited. He voted for the new government, he said, to save 
the Union — a wretched plea, which in our own day has been 
been made to cloak the venal motives of interested politicians. 
But the true motive, gathered from his own justification, was 
the unexpected favor with which the proposed change was 
received. "The genius of America" was nothing more than 
the genius of popularity, and popularity and success have a 
powerful charm for the judgments of men. They soften the 
obstinate, they illuminate the dull, they fix the inconstant, 
they bridge chasms, and break down mighty barriers, and 
open a passage broad and level as the Appian way. 

It is incomprehensible what connection the spirit of America 
could have with the adoption or rejection of the Constitution 
by Virginia. Its merits or defects were alone involved, and 
whether it was politic for Virginia to enter into the new league. 
The North had adopted it ; some of the States with a joyful 
precipitation, others with a show of deliberation. But as the 
Constitution was itself a compact, to which the North and the 
South were the parties, it was irrational for Virginia to be 
swept away by the tide of popularity which set in from the 
North. In fact, the very existence of popularity in that 
quarter was in itself enough to put Virginia on her guard. 
Then was the time, if there ever was a time, when her public 
sentinels were called upon to exercise vigilance and courage. 
It was true. South Carolina, Maryland and Georgia had 
ratified the Constitution, but the two former had not ratified 
until after Randolph had passed over to the enemy.* He 



* The Constitution was ratified by South Carolina, May 23, 1788, by a 
majority of seventy-six votes. " Doubts were entertained of the acceptance of 
the Constitution by Virginia. To gain time till the determination of that 
leading State was known, a motion for postponement was brought forward. 
This, after an animated debate, was overruled by a majority of forty-six. 
The rejection of it was considered as decisive in favor of the Constitution. 
When the result of the vote was announced, an event unexampled in the 



HOW IT WAS CREATED. 167 

had certainly declared, when he returned from Philadelphia, 
that the Constitution had provided a bad government, and 
that Virginia ought not to adopt it until it had been amended. 
Can any man see how the ratification of a bad government 
by nine States could remove any of its defects ? In order to 
provide Gov. Randolph with a justification for the course 
which he had pursued, he was appointed to draft the Act of 
Ratification, where it is broadly stated that the adoption of 
the new Constitution was necessary to the preservation of the 
Union; a question which will be presently examined. 

The Democratic leaders contended that, if amendments 
were the object of Virginia, it would be folly first to adopt the 
Constitution ; and that the obvious course for her to pursue 
was, to stand outside of the Union, along with North Carolina, 
and make her amendments the price of accession to it. Such 
was her moral and geographical position among the States, 
that she was enabled to dictate such terms as she might deem 
necessary. This course, so politic and safe, was not only ad- 
vocated by the Democratic pleaders in the Convention, but had 
been advised by Jefi'erson, and was, at one time, approved by 
Washington. On the 28th April, 1788, he writes to La Fay- 
ette : " The opinion of Mr. Jefferson and yourself is certainly 
a wise one, that the Constitution ought, by all means, to be 
accepted by nine States, before any attempt should be made to 
procure amendments." 

But nothing could restrain the precipitancy of the Conven- 
tion of 1788. It appears to have been possessed by a judicial 
madness. They followed the cunning example of Massachu- 
setts, of adopting first, with the hope of amending afterwards. 
The result, as predicted, has been, that the adoption was ac- 
cepted, but the conditions upon which Virginia was willing to 

annals of Carolina took place. Strong and involuntary expressmis of applause 
and Joy burst forth from the numerous, transported spectators." — Ramsay's Hist, 
of South Carolina, vol. ii., p. 452 

This does not look, Col. Memminger, as though "South Carolina always 
thought the Constitution a hard baryain." 



/ 



168 THE SECTIONAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

enter into this more perfect union, were flung behind the fire 
bj the insolent central power. 

Having tasted of the folly of our predecessors, and proved 
the utter futility of subsequent amendments, it remains for 
Virginia now, in co-operation with the rest of the Southern 
States, to recur to the rejected counsels of the opponents of 
the present Constitution. Yes, let us buckle on our armor, 
and resolutely withdraw from this treacherous association — 
unless another Constitution is made, or the present one so 
amended as to be compatible with the prosperity, expansion and 
safety of the whole slave section. It requires only unity and 
courage, in the Southern counsels, to accomplish, in 1860, that 
result which, by similar means, the Democratic leaders sought 
to accomplish in 1788. 

There may, undoubtedly, exist in the affairs of a people, a 
crisis so hazardous as to admit of no delay, and to justify, nay 
to compel, those who find themselves in the possession of 
power, to make a discretionary use of it. Did such a crisis, 
such a great national emergency, exist in the month of June, 
1788 ? Randolph habitually represented the country to be 
almost in a state of anarchy ; but that assertion was always 
denied by his political opponents. The peaceful and compara- 
tively prosperous condition of the State of Virginia has been 
exhibited by the most authoritative evidence ; and it is to be 
inferred, from the following extract from the correspondence 
of Washington, that the condition of the United States was 
not quite so desperate as Randolph would have us believe. 
He writes thus to La Fayette : 

^^ I expect that many blessings will he attributed to our new 
government, which are now taking their rise from that indus- 
try and frugality, into the practice of which the people have 
been forced from necessity. I really believe that there never 
was so TRuch labor and economy to be found before in the coun- 
try, as at the present moment. If they persist in the habits 
they are acquiring, the good effects will soon be distinguishable. 
When the people shall find themselves secure under an ener- 



HOW IT WAS CREATED. 169 

getio government^ when foreign nations shall he disposed to 
give us equal advantages in commerce, from dread of retalia- 
tion, when the burdens of war shall he, in a manner, done 
away hy the sale of western lands, when the seeds of happi- 
ness, which are sown here, shall begin to expand themselves, 
and when every one, under his oivn vine and fig tree, shall 
begin to taste the siveets of freedom, then all these blessings 
{for all these blessings will come) ivill be referred to the fos- 
tering influence of the neiv government ; whereas many causes 
luill have conspired to produce them." 

This is not the picture of a country rent by factions and 
civil wars. During the twelve-month which had just passed 
a new condition of things was arising in the Northern States. 
Emigration to the southward and westward, as already ob- 
served, had begun to draw off the diseased social elements, 
both from New England and Pennsylvania. The States of 
that section had begun to discharge their federal obligations, 
by paying in their quotas with regularity, and the only power 
indispensable to the efficient action of Congress, was a juris- 
diction over foreign trade, in order, from the dread of retalia- 
tion, to be able to counteract the policy of foreign nations. 
There cannot be found, in all history, after such recent dis- 
asters, so pleasing a picture. Yet that portrait was drawn 
by the pencil of Washington, whilst still the Confederation 
existed. There never was so fortunate an epoch for a people 
to deliberate on public affairs. But " the recoil upon its 
framers," which would have resulted from a rejection of the 
Constitution by the Vii'ginia Convention, gives the true solu- 
tion of the desperate means resorted to to procure its adop- 
tion. Madison, in that event, would never have been the sage 
and idol of parties ; and, above all, he would never have been 
President of the United States. But their political opponents, 
both in Virginia and elsewhere, would have been the master- 
spirits of a new Convention, or even the guiding minds under 
the Philadelphia Constitution, after it had been modified in 
essential particulars. The politicians, who had assisted at 



170 THE SECTIONAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

Philadelphia, abashed and discredited by defeat, would have 
retired into private life, it might have been forever. This, all 
knevr ; but Washington alone had the candor to commit it to 
•writing. 

It will strike every reader of the Debates of the Virginia 
Convention, how much of their importance the reasonings and 
declamations of the Federalists derived from the disastrous 
effects of the war upon the people, and the embarrassments 
which it brought upon government. All the embarrassments, 
and many of the disasters, they boldly and directly attributed 
to the imperfections of the Confederation. There is a strong 
tendency in the human mind to refer all public calamities to 
the government. That string, the leaders of the Federal 
party touched with great skill. There are vast evils, insepa- 
rable from war, to feeble colonies, divided among themselves 
upon the question out of which the war had arisen. The war 
destroyed the commerce of the country — the sole source from 
which money was derived. It dried up, then, the very foun- 
tains of prosperity. No government could have robbed war 
of its terrors ; no government could have made money plenty ; 
for no government could have restored the foreign trade of 
the country. Jefferson was of opinion that, but for the scar- 
city of money, * every State would have discharged her fed- 
eral obligations. In that cause alone, originated the expe- 
dients of paper money and specific supplies. 

The Federalists, too, advocated a theoretic government, and 
who can contend against a government to which all theoretic 
perfections might be attributed ? The Democrats, on the con- 
trary, were called on to defend a system but imperfectly de- 
veloped; a Constitution having defects, which they, them- 
selves, admitted, and were anxious to reform. Here was an 
immense advantage. We have seen the skillful use which 
Madison and his friends made of it. 

* " On the commencement of the late Revolution, Congress had no money. 
The external commerce of the States being suppressed, the farmer could not 
sell his produce, and, of course, could not pay his tax. Congress had no 
resource, then, but paper money." — Jeffekson. 



HOW IT WAS CREATED. 171 

In addition to the positive evidence already produced, that 
the ratification of the Constitution by Virginia was due to the 
infidelity of certain Democratic delegates to the representative 
connection, there is another circumstance looking in the same 
direction, worthy of our attention. The members of the As- 
sembly were elected by a county representation, by the same 
voters who had elected the delegates to the Convention. The 
Assembly was Democratic* by a vast majority of votes, as was 
exhibited at the ensuing session by the election of William 
Grayson and Richard Henry Lee to the Senate of the United 
States, over Mr. Madison. (See Appendix, III.) The State 
legislatures are always taken as the correct exponent of the 
politics of the people. So strong was the Democratic spirit in 
the Virginia legislature of 1788, that they addressed to Con- 
gress the energetic remonstrance already laid before the reader, 
demanding another Federal Convention to construct a new 
Constitution for the United States. 

When a ratification was about to be procured by such repre- 
hensible means, it is not difficult to understand why Mr. Henry 
should declare his determination to withdraw from the Conven- 
tion. But it is difficult to understand why he did not execute 
that purpose. His whole life had proved that courage and 
promptitude of action were striking traits of his character, 
and that he was not in the habit of uttering vain and impotent 
threats. The reason that he did not pursue that course was, 
that Mason, the most influential leader of the anti-Federalists, 
next to himself, refused to unite in that course of action, but 
preferred another less decided. Mason preferred to allow 
ratification to take place without producing a disruption of the 
Convention, and then, by management, to prevent an organi- 
zation of the new government. The plan appears to have 
been to combine the Opposition in all the States, and by their 



* As to the politics of tlie legislature of '88-'89, Mr. Jefferson writes to 
Short: "Avast majority of anti-Federalists have got into the Assembly of 
Virginia, so that Henry is omnipotent there." 



172 THE SECTIONAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

joint counsels, to produce that result. The enemies of the new 
government met, from every direction, at Richmond, but the 
whole scheme miscarried. Whilst the Constitution was still 
depending for ratification, an attempt had been made by the 
anti-Federalists of "Virginia, to unite the Southern States 
against it, and so procure another Convention and another Con- 
stitution. But South Carolina was infatuated with the new 
government, and Georgia had gone mad with Federalism. 
North Carolina alone was true. The ratification of the Con- 
stitution by South Carolina, more than any other cause, ope- 
rated to produce a similar result in Virginia. But she has 
lived to deplore, in sack-cloth and ashes, the folly of that day's 
work. She has been plundered, insulted, menaced, by the 
Federal tyrant, and comes now to Virginia proposing that 
very combination of Southern power which she once rejected. 

It had been determined by the Federal Convention, that the 
government which they had framed should be ratified by con- 
ventions of the people, rather than by the State legislatures, 
to the end, as they pretended, that the government should 
derive its authority from the highest sources. "Why then was 
it not submitted to the people directly ? "Why introduce the 
medium of a convention? I think the proceedings in Rich- 
mond afford a satisfactory answer to this question. 

Madison appears to have been, not only the ablest debater of 
his party on the floor of the Convention, but to have been the 
honored instrument by which the delegates, pledged against 
the Constitution, were induced to vote for it. My reason for 
preferring that charge against him is, that Patrick Henry, in 
the succeeding Assembly, pronounced against him his cele- 
brated philippic. Following immediately on the heels of rati- 
fication, it had been doubtless provoked by the objectionable 
means which had been resorted to by that accomplished tac- 
tician to produce that result. No part of that celebrated 
speech has been preserved. ^It is an irreparable loss to our 
forensic literature. A splendid tradition is all that remains of 
it. The speech would unfold, in ample detail, the network of 



HOW IT WAS CREATED. 173 

treachery tliat, to the eternal shame of the Federal party, was 
woven in 1788. 

It is apart from my purpose to follow the great orator 
beyond those interesting scenes, but an examination of the 
correspondence of Washington discloses the breakers which, 
on every side, threatened his administration. It shows that 
those dangers had a sectional origin, and that the President, 
that he might disperse them, besought Mr. Henry to enter his 
cabinet as Secretary of State. But Henry responded, " I 
am a Democrat," and he could not unite himself to a gov- 
ernment administered by Federalists. It was not until a later 
period, when he thought that it was proposed to precipitate 
the United States into the quarrels of France — to lash her to 
that fire-ship — that he quitted his retirement once more to 
take part in public affairs. But the Angel of Death inter- 
posed, and closed forever the mortal career of Patrick Henry. 

On the 25th June, 1788, the deliberations of the Conven- 
tion were brought to a close. Governor Randolph humbly 
supplicated one parting word: " The suffrage which I will give 
in favor of the Constitution will be ascribed, by malice, to 
motives unknown to my breast. But, although for every other 
act of my life, I shall seek refuge in the mercy of God — for 
this, I request his justice only. Lest, however, some future 
annalist should, in the spirit of party vengeance, deign to 
mention my name, let him recite these truths — that I ivent to 
the Federal Convention with the strongest affection for the 
Union ; that I acted there in full conformity with this affec- 
tion ; that I refused to subscribe, because I had, as I still 
have, objections to the Constitution, and wished a free inquiry 
into its merits, and that the accession of eight States reduced 
our deliberations to the single question of Union or no Union." 

On the same day, an engrossed form of ratification was 
agreed to. The next day, amendments were considered and 
adopted, and the Convention adjourned, having been in session 
twenty-four days. 



174 THE SECTIONAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

It had all along been understood, that Washington was to 
be the first President of the United States. Soon the hunt 
after Federal ofiice began. It was arranged among them that 
Madison should go to Congress. Defeated for the Senate by 
a Democratic majority, he contented himself with the sec- 
ondary honors of the federal legislature. But it was neces- 
sary to take care of Gov. Randolph, for he, above all other 
men, had conferred the greatest benefit upon the party now in 
power. But for him, there would have been no House of 
Representatives, no Senate, no spoils-distributing President, 
no image of the British monarchy. Randolph was the first 
attorney general, an office which he filled with distinguished 
ability and reputation. He afterwards became head of the 
State department, and the diplomatic correspondence of the 
government proves that he was as successful in discussing 
questions of diplomacy, as he had been in discussing questions 
before the courts. 

The party, which bad so strenuously, yet so unsuccessfully, 
opposed the adoption of the Constitution, stood aloof, ready, 
so soon as the occasion should arise, to become a formidable 
power in opposition to that policy which the Federalists sub- 
sequently introduced. They wanted only a leader, to exhibit 
their determination to defend the doctrine of State Rights, 
under the Constitution, as they had just exhibited it in oppos- 
ing its ratification. When Jefferson withdrew from the cab- 
inet of Washington, to organize an Opposition party, he found 
one ready formed. It was only necessary to place himself at 
the head of it. This is the origin of the Great Democratic 
Party in the United States. 



HOW IT WAS CREATED. 175 

CHAPTER V. 

DECLINE OF VIRGINIA. 

Oh! by what plots, by what forswearings, betrayings; and under tvhat reasons of state 
and politic subtlety !— Sm Waltee Ealeigh. 

Take heed of small beginnings, and meet with them even at the first, as well touching 
the breaking and altering of laws, as of other rules which concern the continuance of 
every several state. For the disease and alteration of a commonwealth doth not happen 
all at once, but groweth by degrees, which every common wit cannot discern, but men 
expert in policy. — Sir Walter Raleigh. 

The favorite notion that has been advanced by the enemies 
of African slavery has been, that it produced the decline of 
Virginia, and that, in consequence, its continuance is incom- 
patible with her material prosperity. In proof of that bold 
assertion, they point to the unexampled progress in the last 
seventy-five years made by the Northern or free-soil States, 
in the acquisition and development of wealth. They point to 
the manufactures of New England, the mineral wealth of 
Pennsylvania, and to the splendid commerce of New York, 
in contrast with the tattered and sluggish condition of Mary- 
land and Virginia. They ask, where is that commerce Avhich, 
at one time, constituted the Chesapeake the chosen resort of 
the trader ? They inquire, where is that prosperous agricul- 
ture which made Virginia the foremost of the British colonies? 
In the most illogical manner in the world, they attribute these 
astonishing results to the presence of negro slavery in Vir- 
ginia, and the employment of free or hireling labor in the 
North. They do not stop to inquire, whether the negro has f^ 
not worked as a slave, in Virginia, since the first successful 
experiment of society on her shores. They do not stop to 
consider that it was at a former period, compatible with that 
very pre-eminence in wealth which they now say slavery has 
caused her to lose. Whilst they direct attention to the results 
of free labor in the North, they do not direct attention to the 



176 THE SECTIONAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

results of slave labor in those States of the Union to the 
southward of Virginia, where it is made the agent of the 
richest agriculture to be found in any part of the world. 
They do not direct attention to Cuba, nor to Brazil, nor do 
they direct attention to the Island of Jamaica, whose wealth 
and prosperity have been struck down by an abolition of that 
very slave system which they say has destroyed Virginia. 

It is not the kind of labor which you employ, nor the name 
by which you distinguish the laborer, nor the continent from 
which he is imported, that renders a country prosperous, or 
the reverse ; but the profitable or unprofitable nature of the 
employments in which the laborer is engaged. The history of 
Virginia agriculture establishes this fact. Before the Revo- 
lution, whilst the tobacco planters of Virginia were admitted 
to trade without restriction to British ports, the agriculture of 
Virginia flourished, and the labor of slaves was valuable. 
No one talked about abolition then — no one hinted that slavery 
was inconsistent with the creation of social wealth. But 
when, as we have seen, the tobacco of Virginia and Maryland 
was so heavily taxed upon its admission into the custom- 
houses of Europe, as greatly to impair the profits arising from 
its cultivation, the husbandry of Virginia declined, and with 
it the value of its agencies. 

We have seen that those bad times had induced Virginia to 
move in the question of Federal reform, for the purpose ex- 
pressed and understood, of investing Congress with the power 
to regulate the foreign trade of the country. We have seen 
that those classes more immediately interested in trade, advo- 
cated the new Constitution because it contained that power, 
as it was the argument ever in the mouths of the Federalists.* 



* There could not be stronger evidence of the inducements held up to the 
people to ratify the new Constitution, than are to be found in the pages of 
"The Federalist." In the eleventh number of that series, this is what is 
said in respect to the commercial blessings to be conferred by Ratification, 
that demon in the garb of an angel: 

"The importance of the Union, in a commercial light, is one of those 



HOAY IT WAS CREATED. 177 

Mr. Corbin and Gov. Randolph, in the Convention, described 
the disastrous condition of trade growing out of the un- 
friendly policy of European governments towards it, as well 
as the hopes of those better times which the new Constitution 
would bring. The former said : " Let him visit the sea coast, 
go to our posts and inlets. In these ports, sir, where we had 
every reason to see the fleets of all nations, he will behold a 
few trifling little boats, — he will everywhere see commerce 
languish, the disconsolate merchant with his arms folded, ru- 
minating in despair on the wretched ruins of his fortune, and 
deploring the impossibility of repairing it. The West Indies 
blocked up against us. Not the British only, but other 
nations, exclude us from their islands, our fur trade gone to 
Canada." "But," urged Gov. Randolph, "if you adopt this 
Constitution, giving to Congress the power to regulate our 
foreign trade, credit will be restored and confidence diS"used 
in the country. Merchants and men of wealth will be in- 
duced to come among us, and commerce will flourish." This 
was the argument which enabled the Federalist leaders to 
collect a party for that Constitution, notwithstanding that 
men trembled whilst they favored its adoption. 

Upon tobacco rested the whole system of Virginia. "With 
the exception of a little wheat and Indian corn, it constituted 
the bulk of her foreign trade. It was the principal source 



points about which there is least room to entertain a difference of opinion, 
and which has in fact commanded the most general assent of men, who have 
any acquaintance with the subject. By prohibitory regulations, extending at 
the same time throughout the States, we may oblige foreign countries to bid against 
each other, for the privileges of our market. This assertion will not appear chi- 
merical to those who are able to appreciate the importance, to any manufacturing 
nation, of the markets of three millions of people, increasing in rapid progression; 
for the most part, exclusively addicted to agriculture, and likely, from local cir- 
cumstances, to remain in this disposition. Suppose, for instance, we had a gov- 
ernment in America, capable of excluding Great Britain from all our ports ; what 
would be the probable operation of this step upon her politics? Would it not 
enable us to negotiate, with the fairest prospect of success, for commercial privi- 
leges of the most valuable and extensive kind, in the dominions of that king- 
dom 9" ^-c. 

12 



178 THE SECTIONAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

from -which the people derived money, wherewith to discharge 
their federal quotas, to support their State government, and 
to maintain their local institutions. It was the power that 
was to construct that great internal improvement system, the 
conception of Washington, which they had but just under- 
taken. It was the power, too, that had built thriving towns 
on her principal rivers and inlets; it was the power which 
promised to make those towns cities; and, above all, it was 
the power, in combination Avith cheap negroes, that had sub- 
divided the territory among the rural population of the Com- 
monwealth ; it was the power* which made the agriculture of 
Virginia prosperous, and which rendered her the foremost 
State in the Union, in all those particulars which constitute a 
great and influential community. 

"We have seen that the Congress of the Confederation soli- 
cited the States to be entrusted with jurisdiction over the 
foreign trade of the United States, covenanting that " the par- 
ticular interests of every State will then be brought forward 
and receive a federal support, and that their commerce laid 
under injurious restrictions in foreign ports, will, by wise and 
equitable regulations," be liberated. 

Was the general expectation, that the export trade of Vir- 
ginia would be liberated from the oppressive burdens, which 
weighed it down, realised by the new government ? Were the 
covenants of the Congress of the Confederation complied with, 
to whose debts and obligations, by the terms of the Constitu- 
tion, the new government had succeeded ? We know, without 
reference to the proceedings of the Congress, that the pledge, 
80 far as the tobacco trade of Virginia is concerned, has been 
wantonly violated, and that, so far from the exactions and 
monopolies of foreign governments being removed, or at least 
moderated, by the promised retaliation of the federal legisla- 

* As late as 1786 the government of Virginia received, by special act, To- 
bacco, even in payment of taxes, and paid a portion of the troops which 
had been sent to fight in South Carolina, in the same article, instead of 
money. — Jour. H. Del., 1786. 



HOW IT WAS CREATED. 179 

ture, they liave been accumulated, and are at this day more 
oppressive than they have been at any former period.* Such 
is the faith that the central power has kept "with Virginia and 
Maryland. When, at a recent session of Congress, the sub- 
ject of the tobacco duties was brought to the attention of that 
body, by the Honorable T. F. Bowie of Maryland, instead of 
enacting counteracting duties, the question was referred to the 
diplomatic action of the government, thus remitting Virginia 



* By a comparison of the following tables, it will be seen to how great a 
degree the tobacco interests of Virginia and Maryland have been injured under 
that federal reform which, under so many flattering hopes, was devised in 
1787, and ratified in 1788. The tobacco trade, instead of being unfettered 
by the energetic interposition of the new government, has been loaded 
down under its eyes with additional weights. 

The tobacco trade in 1793, the date of Jefferson's Report on the Commerce 
of the United States in Foreign Countries, was valued at four millions three 
hundred and forty-nine thousand five hundred and sixty-seven dollars. By 
Spain, the introduction of tobacco and indigo was prohibited. By Portugal, 
tobacco and rice were prohibited. In France, under the kingly government, 
America tobacco was under a monopoly, but paid no duties. The first 
National Assembly emancipated tobacco from its monopoly, but subjected it 
to duties of 18 livres, 15 sous the quintal. In Great Britain, tobacco, for their 
own consumption, paid one shilling three pence sterling the pound, custom 
and excise, besides heavy expenses of collection. In Denmark, heavy duties 
were laid on tobacco and rice, but the exact amount not known. 

The duties on the importation of tobacco exacted, at the present day, by 
the principal nations of Europe, appear from a Report on the Commercial 
Relations of the United States with all Foreign Nations (34th Congress, 1st 
eession) as follows : 

By Russia, six rubles, or $4 50 per 110 lbs. ; by Austria, $12 12^ per 110 
lbs., but allowed to be imported only with permission of the government. 
Besides the import duty, an extra due for the grant of the license must be 
paid, amounting to ninety-seven cents per lb. for unmanufactured; $1 21 J 
per lb. for manufactured. The Zollverein, five dollars fiftj'-two cents per one 
hundred and ten lbs. In Sardinia, tobacco is a government monoply. In the 
two Sicilies it is prohibited. In Spain it is prohibited. Tobacco, in France, 
is either prohibited or is a government monopoly. There are particular relax- 
ations, but they are of no account to the trade. The British government 
exacts upon the importation of tobacco, unmanufactured, 72 cts. per lb. and 
five per cent, additional. On manufactured or cigars, $2 16 cts. per lb. and 
five per cent, additional. On snuff, $1 44 cts. per lb. and 5 per cent, addi- 
tional. The reader here sees how greatly the tobacco tariffs of Europe have 
been magnified since the new government went into operation. 



180 THE SECTIONAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

back to that condition in ■which she stood anterior to the for- 
mation of the new government. Here are the resolutions 
introduced by the gentleman above named : 

" Resolved hy the Senate and House of Representatives of 
the United States of America in Congress assembled, That 
the trade in tobacco with Great Britain, France, Spain, Portu- 
gal, Austria, Brazil and all other foreign nations, is clogged 
■with restrictions and limitations, wholly inconsistent with that 
fair and reciprocal condition of commerce which ought to exist 
between the United States and those nations respectively, and 
is, therefore, unsatisfactory to the States of Virginia, Ken- 
tucky, Maryland, North Carolina, Missouri, Tennessee, Ohio 
and Connecticut, in which the article of tobacco is an import- 
ant if not the chief staple of agricultural production. 

" Sec. 2. Be it further resolved, That it is the duty of the 
Federal Government to use its utmost power, by negotiation or 
other constitutional means, to obtain a modification or reduc- 
tion on the part of said foreign nations, of the duties and 
restrictions imposed by them on the importation of American 
tobacco, and to this end to employ all the diplomatic and com- 
mercial powers which the Constitution has confided to it, in 
producing a more just and equal reciprocity in a trade so 
deeply involving the value of that portion of the agricultural 
labor of the country in which at least one-fourth of the con- 
federacy is concerned. 

" Sec. 3. Be it further resolved. That the treaties of the 
United States with China and Japan present a fair and fitting 
occasion for the enlargement and extension of the tobacco 
trade of the United States, and it is the duty of the govern- 
ment of the United States to use all their exertions within the 
limits of constitutional power, to foster and encourage the 
introduction of American tobacco as an article of use among 
the people of those nations. 

" Sec. 4. Be it further resolved, That diplomatic negotia- 
tions with England, France, Spain and Austria, as well as with 
China and Japan, ought to be commenced as soon as practica- 



now IT WAS CREATED. 181 

ble, by the government of the United States, with the view of 
obtaining a modification of the existing systems of revenue 
and taxation of those nations, in respect to American tobacco ; 
and for this purpose instructions ought to be given to our 
foreign ministers, consuls, and commercial agents in those 
nations by the Executive of the United States, to use all their 
constitutional and legitimate functions in producing so desira- 
ble a result." 

Soon after the organization of Congress, that question was 
brought to its attention by Mr. Madison. He contended that 
" agriculture was the great staple of the United States, and 
that it was the duty of the government to foster and protect it 
by every power with which it was armed by the Constitution. 
Retaliation was the only means by which that object could be 
accomplished, and that it was the main inducement that led to 
federal reform. He said, "We shall soon be in a condition, 
we are now in a condition, to wage a commercial warfare with 
Great Britain. The produce of this country is more neces- 
sary to the world, than that of other countries is to America. 
If we were disposed to hazard the experiment of interdicting 
the intercourse between us and the powers not in alliance, we 
should have overtures of the most advantageous kind tendered 
by those nations. If we have the disposition, we have abund- 
antly the power to vindicate our cause. Let us show the 
world that we know justly how to consider our commercial 
friends and commercial adversaries. * * * * j ^.j]j jjq^ 
enlarge on this subject ; but it must be apparent to every 
gentleman, that we possess natural advantages that no other 
nation does ; we can, therefore, with justice, stipulate for a 
reciprocity in commerce. The way to obtain this is by dis- 
crimination." 

Mr. Baldwin observed, " That the question immediately 
before the committee was of less importance than the one 
which had been argued by the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. 
Madison) and the gentleman from New York (Mr. Lawrence). 
He was glad to have this question discussed, and thought the 



182 THE SECTIONAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

gentleman liad very properly called in the public sentiment, 
as an argument in favor of his motion for discrimination ; but 
the gentleman over the way wants evidence of what the public 
sentiment is. I think, said he, we have a strong proof of 
what the public sentiment is, in the very existence of the 
House. This sentiment he believed to be the cause of the 
revolution, under which we are about to act. The commer- 
cial restrictions which Great Britain, in pursuing her selfish 
policy, imposed, gave rise to an unavailing clamor, and excited 
the feeble attempt which several of the State legislatures 
made to counteract the detestable regulations of a commercial 
enemy ; but these proving altogether ineffectual to ward off 
the effects of the blow, or revenge their cause, the Convention 
at Annapolis was called for the express purpose of counteract- 
ing them on general principles. This Convention found the 
completion of the business impossible to be effected in their 
hands : it terminated, as is well known, in calling the Conven- 
tion who framed the present Constitution, which has perfected 
a happy revolution in politics and commerce. The general 
expectation of the country is, that there shall be a discrimina- 
tion ; that those nations, who have not yet explained the 
terms on which an intercourse shall be carried on, or who 
have, by establishing regulations bearing hard upon such 
intercourse, may know our ability and disposition to withhold 
or bestow advantages, according as we find a principle of 
reciprocity prevail. A discrimination is necessary ; the voice 
of the people calls for it, and we shall not answer the end for 
which we came here, by neglecting or refusing to make it." 

Nor was the Executive government less explicit in its 
acknowledgments of its obligations to protect agriculture by 
discriminating duties. Washington recommended that policy 
to Congress, in a special message, and, when Congress called 
upon the Secretary of State to report upon the condition of 
foreign commerce, and the proper remedies for its ameliora- 
tion, Mr. Jefferson responded in an elaborate report, from 
which the followino- extract is taken : 



HOW IT WAS CREATED. 183 

" But should any nation, contrary to our wishes, suppose it 
may better find its advantage by continuing its systems of 
prohibitions, duties and regulations, it behooves us to protect 
our citizens, their commerce and navigation, by counter pro- 
hibitions, duties and regulations also. Free commerce and 
navigation are not to be given in exchange for restrictions and 
vexations ; nor are they likely to produce a relaxation of 
them." — (^American State Papers, vol. i. pp. 350, 351.) 

It is not necessary to examine farther the action of the 
legislature on this interesting, nay vital, question to Virginia. 
We know the result, and we know that that result has brought 
disaster and ruin upon the industry of the State. 

The proceedings of Congress at its first session, its high- 
handed measures, its arbitrary assumption of power, and its 
neglect of the commercial interests of Virginia, greatly soured, 
as we are informed by the correspondents of Washington, the 
people of Virginia towards the new government. One of 
them writes : " If Mr. Henry has sufficient boldness to aim 
the blow at its existence, which he has threatened, I think he 
eamiot meet with a more favorable opportunity . But I doubt 
whether he possesses so adventurous a spirit." 

Henry Lee, of Revolutionary fame, and so staunch a friend 
of ratification, is represented as having returned from Con- 
gress disgusted with the new government. 

My authority for this statement is a letter to Washington, 
under date March 15th, 1790. It was written from Abing- 
don, Virginia, by his friend Stuart. " A spirit of jealousy, 
which may become dangerous to the Union, towards the 
Eastern States, seems to be fast growing amongst us. It is 
represented, that the Northern phalanx is so firmly united, as 
to bear down all opposition, while Virginia is unsupported, 
even by those whose interests are similar to hers. It is the 
language of all I have seen on their return from New York. 
Col. Lee tells me, that many, who were warm supporters of 
the government, are changing their sentiments, from a convic- 
tion of the impracticability of union with States whose inte- 



184 THE SECTIONAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

rests are so dissimilar to those of Virginia. I fear the colonel 
is one of the number. The late applications to Congress, re- 
specting the slaves, will certainly tend to promote this spirit. 
It gives particular umbrage that the Quakers should be so 
busy in this business." 

To this insolent disregard of the interests upon which the 
prosperity of Virginia depended, there was soon added, by the 
sectional legislation of Congress, another evil of great magni- 
tude. The trade, as was predicted by Grayson, was taken 
from her and given to the North, thus laying her agriculture 
under the additional burden of a commercial tribute. A total 
disruption then took place. Lands rapidly sank in value ; 
slave property became a burden, and those towns, once the 
seat of a growing commerce, fell into ruins. * But the most 
melancholy and heart-rending consequence of this federal 
treachery, was the depopulation of the Commonwealth, and 



* "Of what does the wealth of Virginia consist? Chiefly of lands and 
elaves. The lands of the Commonwealth were valued, in 1817, at $200,000,- 
000 ; what are they now worth ? Half that sum ? * * * Next, as to 
slaves. A gentleman sitting near him had, at the period to which he had 
just referred, sold eighty-five slaves, in families, at $300 round. He had 
been assured by him, and by other gentlemen, equally well informed, from 
other portions of the Commonwealth, that $150 for each slave, taking them 
in families, would be a fair price at the present time. This description of 
labor, then, had fallen one half, and lands more than one half, in very little 
more than ten years. In the estimate of the last, the tables supplied by the 
auditor, comprehended $20,500,000 for city and town lots ; chiefly for the 
value of those of Richmond, Petersburg, Norfolk and Fredericksburg ; a value 
dependent on the fluctuatiojis of foreign and domestic trade. What it is now, I 
know not; since commerce, that inconstant handmaid of fortune, has turned her 
helm from our ports to the favored harbor of New York." — Mr. Mercer — 
Debates Va. Convention 1829, p. 173. 

" In my poor opinion, every commercial operation of the federal govern- 
ment, since I attained manhood, has been detrimental to the Southern At- 
lantic slaveholding planting States. In 1800, we had a great West India and 
a floui'ishing European trade. We imported for ourselves, and for a good 
part of North Cai'olina, perhaps of Tennessee. Where is all that trade now ? 
Annihilated. Where is the capital which carried it on ? Gone. Sir we, have 
not an adequate representation in the federal government." — Watkins 
Leigh — Ibid, p. 104. 



HOW IT WAS CREATED. 185 

the destruction of that landed system which, from the first 
settlement of the country, had been growing up in Virginia. 
Those regions adapted to the growth of the grasses, were con- 
verted into pasture lands. The consolidation of farms took 
place in order to make cattle-ranges and sheep-walks ; and 
the dwellings of the people were abandoned to silent and in- 
evitable decay. Their vestiges alone remain : a ruined and 
dismantled dwelling, a falling chimney, a neglected graveyard, 
a decayed orchard ; or, perhaps, a rose, 

"To tell where a garden has been." 

I cannot describe the calamity which had fallen upon them 
better than by using the language of the historian, which de- 
picts a similar catastrophe which befell their English ances- 
tors : " Pasturage tvas found more profitable than tillage ; 
whole estates were laid waste by enclosures; the tenants^ re- 
garded as a useless burden, were expelled their habitations ; 
even cottagers, deprived of the commons on which they for- 
merly fed their cattle, were reduced to misery ; and a decay 
of people, as ivell as a diminution of the former plenty, was 
remarked in the kingdom.'^ 

Those sections of the State adapted only to husbandry, were 
completely destroyed ; an utter desolation reigned on every 
side. It was as though the Angel of Death had passed over 
the land, blighting whatever he looked upon. Here is a pic- 
ture drawn by Charles Fenton Mercer, in 1829. It repre- 
sents that portion of Virginia of which I now speak : 

" As I descended the Chesapeake the other day, on my way 
to this city, impelled by a favoring west wind which, co-ope- 
rating with the new element applied by the genius of Fulton 
to navigation, made the vessel on which I stood literally fly 
through the wave before me, I thought of the early descrip- 
tion of Virginia, by the followers of Raleigh and the compan- 
ions of Smith. I endeavored to scent the fragrance of the 
gale which reached me from the shore of the capacious bay 
along which we steered ; and I should have thought the pic- 



186 THE SECTIONAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

tures of Virginia, which rose in my fancy, not too highly col- 
ored, had I not often traversed our lowland country, the land 
not only of my nativity, but of my fathers, and I said to 
myself, how much has it lost of its primitive loveliness ! Does 
the eye dwell with most pain on its wasted fields, or its stunted 
forests of secondary growth of pine and cedar? Can we 
dwell, but with mournful regret, on the temples of religion 
sinking in ruin ; and those spacious dwellings whose doors, 
once opened by the liberal hand of hospitality, are now fallen 
upon their portals, or closed in tenantless silence ? Except on 
the banks of its rivers, the march of desolation saddens this 
once beautiful country. The cheerful notes of population 
have ceased, and the wolf and wild deer, no longer scared 
from their ancient haunts, have descended from the mountains 
to the plains. They look on the graves of our ancestors, and 
traverse their former paths. There was a time when the sun, 
in his course, shone on no land so fair." 

So rapid was the work of depopulation that, in 1829, du- 
ring a space of nine years, according to the auditor's report, 
the counties of Fairfax and Loudoun had diminished in num- 
bers 5,000. Riots and popular risings were not here, as they 
had been in England, the result of a ruined agriculture ; for 
the means of a peaceful solution of the social problem were 
within reach. A fertile and unpeopled country lay on the 
borders of east Virginia, where this calamity was particularly 
felt. Strong tides of population began to flow into Ken- 
tucky, Georgia, Tennessee and Missouri. The emigrants took 
with them their slaves, and planted the social institutions of 
Virginia in their new homes. Others went to Indiana and 
Illinois, where they vainly attempted to introduce their favorite 
labor system. 

I must here revert to the causes which disconcerted the just 
expectations of Virginia, that, through the agency of Con- 
gress, the exclusive system of Europe would be counteracted. 

At one time there existed a perfect unity of commercial in- 
terest in all the States, which is proved by the fact that every 



HOW IT WAS CREATED. 187 

State, save one, had agreed to lodge with the federal head, 
the necessary power over foreign trade. Rhode Island alone 
objected to that addition to the Federal Articles ; * and 
Rhode Island, it was known, deeply corrupted by paper 
money, was swayed by dishonest motives. At the period 
indicated, Massachusetts was as clamorous as the merchants 
and farmers of Virginia, for commercial retaliation. Not 
only did her legislature breathe a hostile spirit, but popular 
outbreaks against the commerce of England, a second time, 
disturbed the peace of Boston. 

Though separate State action had failed to procure com- 
mercial freedom, it had, nevertheless, produced to the north- 
ward an important change in the public interests. That re- 
taliatory legislation had operated as a protection to domestic 
manufactures. Establishments of that nature had sprung into 
existence, and had already become important public interests. 
So soon as the new Congress had assembled, the fact was at 
once developed, that the North had become interested in that 
new branch of industry theretofore almost unknown in Amer- 
ica. Mr. Hartley, of Pennsylvania, openly proclaimed, that 
he wished the government to establish, as a fixed policy, that 
of protecting the manufactures of the North ; and that senti- 
ment was approved and sustained by his co-delegates from 
that section. Massachusetts, whilst she was unwilling to be 
taxed on the importation of molasses, from which her people 
made rum, yet contended that her rum ought to be fenced in 
by high duties from a competition with the rum of Jamaica, 
which, whilst it was of a superior quality to her own, could be 
sold cheaper in the domestic market. Even before the Revo- 
lution, the manufacture of rum had, to a considerable extent, 
engaged the attention of the people of that State. It con- 
nected itself with the two most profitable trades which they 
carried on — the trade in fish to the West India islands, and 



* See also Monroe's Report in 1785, already quoted in the text ; also, ex- 
tract from Federalist, quoted in note, pp. 176-7. 



/ 



188 THE SECTIONAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

the trade in slaves, which were purchased on the coast of 
Africa, and vended to the Southern planters. 

Fisher Ames explains the whole business. Their summer 
fish they sold to the planters of the West Indies, as food for 
their slaves, and took molasses in exchange. That molasses 
they converted into rum, with which they purchased slaves on 
the barbaric shores of Africa. Pennsylvania sought protec- 
tion for those manufactures of steel which, she said, could not 
stand alone, without the crutch of protection ; nor could her 
paper mills, which turned out annually seventy thousand 
reams of paper. Connecticut had manufactures of woollen 
and manufactures of cordage, which she humbly petitioned to 
have protected ; for, with great truth, she said, that unless the 
American consumer was compelled to pay for those articles a 
price above that at which they could be bought in the general 
market,, those infant establishments would perish. New York 
demanded that every article should be protected that her 
people were able to manufacture. Those interests were ob- 
viously opposed to a system of commercial retaliation, " the 
dread of which would have been enough to have struck down 
the tariffs of England, and have initiated an era of free trade. 
That deplorable event the Northern States greatly dreaded, 
and, therefore, in the language of David Stuart, " the Northern 
phalanx" opposed, to the bitter end, all movements looking in 
that direction. 

The whale and cod fisheries, it was true, were still in 
agonies ; but the government soon found means, by bounties, 
to still their clamorous cries. But the great interest of the 
North, which sought and found protection from the liberal 
hand of the new government, was navigation, which was 
cherished by high differential duties. This, of course, bore 
with peculiar hardship on the Southern or producing States, 
whose commodities were now burdened by a new weight, by 
the hand of that government which had been so profuse in its 
promises of protection. Against the whole system, South 
Carolina lifted up her voice, nor did Virginia tamely submit, 



HOW IT WAS CREATED. 189 

although Mr. Madison had embraced that new system with all 
the ardor of a lover. But his colleague, Mr. Bland, who had 
no motives to conciliate a popularity in the North, thus 
pointed out the operations of that class legislation : " You 
certainly/ lay a tax upon the whole eommuyiity, in order to 
put money in the pockets of a few, ivhen you burden the 
importation with a heavy impost J" 

Even the interests of Northern agriculture had undergone 
a total change. It had no longer to contend with onerous 
duties in the ports of Europe, where they were only too glad 
to obtain the breadstuflfs of America ; for the Revolution in 
France had already affected the supply of corn. The year 
1790 had given to the farmers of New York and Pennsylvania 
a bountiful harvest of wheat, and "the demand," says Wash- 
ington, in a letter written, on the 9th January of that year, 
to Mrs. Catharine Macaulay Graham, " for that article from 
abroad is great." He proceeds to furnish to his correspondent 
an account of the prosperous condition of the Northern section 
of the country, through which he had recently made a tour : 
" The increase of commerce is visible in every part, and the 
number of her manufactures introduced in one year is aston- 
ishing. I have lately made a tour through the Eastern States. 
I found the country, in a great degree, recovered from the 
ravages of war ; the towns flourishing, and the people de- 
lighted with a government instituted by themselves and for 
their own good." 

Virginia and Maryland stood alone — demanding protection 
for their agriculture; for the delegates from the other South- 
ern States stood aloof,* and opposed that policy, although 

* Washington to David Stuakt, March 2^th, 1790. — " Was it not always 
believed, that there are some points which peculiarly interest the Eastern 
States ? And did auy one, who reads human nature, and more especially 
the character of the Eastern people, conceive that they would not pursue 
them steadily by a combination of their force ? Are there not other points 
which equally concern the Southern States ? If these States are less tena- 
cious of their interests, or if, whilst the Eastern move in a solid phalanx, to 
aflfect their views, the Southern are always divided — which of the two is most 
to be blamed ? " 



» 



190 THE SECTIONAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

the condition of agriculture among their constituents was 
depressed in the same degree, and by the same causes. 
Such was its condition in South Carolina, and so little profit 
attended its operations, that rice and indigo, staple produc- 
tions, had been in a great measure abandoned. Mr. Tucker, 
from that State, in a speech, protesting against the protective 
system, said : " The situation of South Carolina was melan- 
choly ; while the inhabitants were deeply in debt, the produce 
of the State was daily falling in price. Rice and indigo were 
becoming so low, as to be considered, by many, objects not 
worthy of cultivation." 

I suspect that the cause which disunited the Southern dele- 
gates was the course pursued by Madison and other members 
of the "Virginia delegation upon the vital subject of the tarifi". 
He had openly sided with the North on that question, and 
proved himself to be the ablest and most devoted champion of 
that sectional legislation. Tonnage duties bore with peculiar 
severity upon the people of South Carolina and Georgia, and 
their representatives showed no little irritation at those heavy 
exactions, the sole benefit of which resulted to the shipping 
interest of the North. Madison first broke rank; he first 
left his friends, and took part with his enemies. Could it be 
expected of those friends to unite with him, when he brought 
forward the peculiar interest of his constituents for the pro- 
tecting favor of the government ? It was not enough to say, 
that those measures which sacrificed Carolina, sacrificed Vir- 
ginia likewise. If he might claim the right to immolate the 
latter, he certainly had no claim whatever to sacrifice the 
former to the cupidity of Massachusetts, Connecticut and 
Pennsylvania. 

To the silent operation of these causes is to be ascribed the 
destruction of that unity of interest which, at one tim.e, per- 
vaded the States, upon which would have been based that 
commercial league, into which they were ready at one time to 
embark. 



PART II. 



|oto it bas ^tstrogtb. 



Riches are mine, Fortune is in my hand ; 

They whom 1 favor thrive in wealth amain, 

While Virtue, Valor, Wisdom sit in want.— Paeadise Regained. 

In a despotic state, which is every government whose power is immoderately exerted, 
a real division is perpetually kindled.— Geanbeur and Declension of the Roman Empire. 

Every Government has its nature and principle, and its decay begins with the de- 
struction of its principle. — Spirit of Laws. 

A vice in representation, like an error in the first concoction, must be followed by 
disease, convulsions and finally death itself. — Wilson. 

When two nations, of opposite civilizations and differing 
interests, confederate in the same government, the principle of 
that government is an Equilibrium. If it be otherAvise, the 
government is a capitulation, by which one party surrenders 
its independence and, notwithstanding the forms of self-gov- 
ernment, is degraded to the condition of a province. 

By the Constitution, representatives in the popular branch 
of Congress, were distributed between the sections, as follows : 



NORTH. 



New Hampshire, 
Massachusetts, 
Rhode Island, 
Connecticut, 
New York, 
New Jersey, 
Pennsylvania, 
Delaware, 

8 States 



3 votes. 

8 

1 

5 

6 

4 

8 

1 

36 



192 



THE SECTIONAL EQUILIBRIUM. 



SOUTH. 



Maryland, 
Virginia, 
North Carolina, 
South Carolina, 
Georgia, 

5 States, 



6 votes. 
10 
6 
5 
3 

29 



This division of representatives between the North and 
South, was based upon the following estimate of population : 



New Hampshire, 

Massachusetts, . 

Rhode Island, . 

Connecticut, 

New York, 

New Jersey, 

Pennsylvania, . 

Delaware, 

Maryland (including three-fifths of 80,000 negroes), 

Virginia (including three-fifths of 280,000 negroes), 

North Carolina (including three-fifths of 60,000 

negroes), ...... 

South Carolina (including three-fifths of 80,000 

negroes), ...... 

Georgia (including three-fifths of 20,000 negroes,) 



102,000 
860,000 

58,000 
202,000':.: 
238,000 
138,000 
360,000 

37,000 7^j1 
218,000 
420,000 

200,000 

100,000 
90,000:' ' 



The ratio of three-fifths of the slaves gave, according to 
that estimated census, a majority of seven votes to the North. 
Gov. Randolph, in the Virginia Convention, when addressing 
himself to that branch of his subject, says : " The present 
number, sixty-five, is to be increased according to the pro- 
gressive augmentation of the number of the people. From 
the present number of inhabitants, which is estimated at 



HOW IT WAS DESTROYED. 193 

352,000 whites, and 236,000 blacks,* we sliall be entitled to 
fifteen representatives." This would have reduced the north- 
ern majority to two. But upon an examination of Gov. Ran- 
dolph's calculation, I find that, according to the federal ratio, 
Virginia would have been entitled to sixteen f representatives, 
and that would have reduced the Northern majority to one, 
almost an equilibrium. 

When the Northern members in the Federal Convention 
were accused of exaggerating the population of their respect- 
ive States, in order to give to the North a larger representation 
in the outset than it would be entitled to under the compro- 
mise, it will be remembered that Col. Mason made light of that 
fact, because he asserted that the census, to be taken at the 
end of three years, would set all right — a signal want of fore- 
sight in one so wise, as the event soon proved. The point 
which the Northern members strained every nerve to gain, was 
to have control of the government in the outset, and in this 
they succeeded. The government has never passed from 
under their sway, and the expectations of its framers, that 
power would speedily be equalized between the North and 
South, has been falsified ; for the North has been as successful 
in retaining ascendancy in the government as it was in the 
beginning in obtaining it. The means employed will presently 
be the subject of examination. 

The grand defect of the Constitution, according to the 
design of its framers, was to have rested power upon a fluc- 
tuating basis like that of population. It at once created 



* It is estimated by Jefferson that not less than one fifth of the slaves of 
Virginia had been carried off by the British. 

I I find a singular confirmation of the accuracy of tliis allotment of sixteen 
votes to Virginia, under the three-fifths ratio, derived from the speech of 
Mr. Brearly, who was speaking of the share of that State as judged by 
her quota. He says : " Judging of the disparity of the States by the quota of 
Congress, Virginia would have sixteen votes, &c." — Madison Papers, p. 830. 

Might not this under estimate of the population of Virginia have been sub- 
mitted to in order better to reconcile the North to an arrangement which 
many thought would ultimately take power out of their hands ? 

13 



19-1 THE SECTIONAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

struggles for power ; for to control a miglity government like 
that created, was an object which might well stir the ambition 
of any people. The design was good, but the execution bad, 
and in the frame of the Constitution itself is to be found the 
cause of those violent agitations which have convulsed the 
country. If the intended Equilibrium between the Slave and 
Freesoil powers had been fixed by an absolute provision of 
the Constitution, the slavery controversy would have been 
stifled in its birth, and tranquility and good will would have 
taken the place of the war of sections. It is impossible to 
estimate the extent of the change that would have been 
produced by that simple act.* 

When Gouverneur Morris, after the government had been 
placed under Northern influence, in the commencement, openly 
proposed to allow Congress, from time to time, to arrange the 
representation in the popular branches of the government, 
the proposition was voted down. It was said that represen- 
tation, being in its nature a fundamental article, ought to be 
fixed in the Constitution; that it was the Constitution itself. 
Nevertheless, as we shall see. Congress has controlled the 



* It is not to be concealed, however, that the struggles between the North 
and South have been the most potential agencies in counteracting the con- 
solidating tendencies of the Federal system, and that a sectional balance of 
power, by putting at rest sectional jealousies and apprehensions, would have 
tended greatly to strengthen the government, and lead to an absorption of the 
States. The South, from its position as a minority, has been compelled to 
insist upon the strictest limitations of power. If these speculations be well 
founded, it may have been fortunate that an equilibrium was not successfully 
introduced into a government of such undefined jurisdiction as that which 
was created in 1787. 

Mr. Calhoun, in his masterly "Disquisition," in which he revives the study 
of the true science of representative government, remarks that nothing im- 
parts power to governments so much as well adjusted balances and checks. 
This, beyond doubt, is true. By creating confidence, they extinguish faction, 
and faction is the destroying agent of popular systems. To have made the 
Constitution of 1787 safe, it should have contained checks and balances be- 
tween the States and the central power, as well as checks and balances be- 
tween the North and South. "Wherever there is danger of attack, there 
should be given power of defence." 



HOW IT WAS DESTROYED. 195 

whole matter ; for it has, by direct and indirect action, as- 
sumed jurisdiction to regulate the tides of population. 

The whole system of Federal policy has been designed with 
that end in view ; but the principal instruments by which that 
consequence was brought about are. First, The protective sys- 
tem. Second, The exclusion of slavery from the territories. 
Third, The refusal to protect the agriculture of the South. 
Fourth, The interdiction of the slave trade, without laying a 
similar disability upon emigration, but, instead, high and un- 
usual encouragements held out to it. Fifth, The use of 
the credits of the federal government. For none of which 
is there the slightest warrant in the Constitution. The 
Equilibrium was the ground-work of the new government, 
and every part of it, as has been before said, was made with 
reference to it. After refusing to invest Congress with power 
over representation, the framers of the instrument, were not 
guilty of the solecism of allowing that end to be obtained by 
indirection. 

If there is anything demonstrably clear, by evidence ex- 
trinsic to the Constitution, it is, that its framers intended it 
to be a free trade Constitution. The people and the statesmen 
of the United States, after the close of the Revolution, were 
disappointed that the policy of foreign nations, and particu- 
larly of the English nation, was still opposed to unrestricted 
commercial intercourse with them, but, instead, loaded their 
trade with heavy import duties. This fact has been estab- 
lished in these pages by the most authoritative evidence, and 
that failing to attain the desired object by negotiation and 
separate State legislation, the States agreed to deposite with 
Congress the power to regulate their commerce, in order that 
coercive measures might be employed. In addition to the 
evidences already submitted, I will here add the unequivocal 
declarations of Mr. Jefferson upon that point, whilst he sus- 
tained the character of the diplomatic agent of the govern- 
ment to France: "The system," says he, "into which the 



196 THE SECTIONAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

United States wished to go, was that of freeing commerce 
from every shackle." (Correspondence, vol. i, p. 355.) 

" Our people have a decided taste for navigation and com- 
merce. They take this from their mother country ; and their 
servants are in duty bound to calculate all their measures on 
this datum : We wish to do it hy throwing open all the doors 
of commerce, and knocking off all its shackles." (Ibid, p. 344.) 

The following extract from the report of Mr. Jefferson, 
when Secretary of State, in 1793, shows that he considered 
the commercial policy of the United States to be unchanged 
by the adoption of the new Constitution : 

"Instead of embarrassing commerce under piles of regu- 
lating laws, duties and prohibitions, could it be relieved from 
all its shackles in all parts of the world, could every country 
be employed in producing that which nature has best fitted it 
to produce, and each be free to exchange with others mutual 
surpluses for mutual wants, the greatest mass possible would 
then be produced of those things which contribute to human 
life and human happiness. Would even a single nation begin 
with the United States this system of free commerce, it would 
be advisable to begin it with that nation; since it is one by 
one, only, that it can be extended to all. Where the circum- 
stances of either party render it expedient to levy a revenue, 
by way of impost, on commerce, its freedom might be modi- 
fied, in that particular, by mutual and equivalent measures, 
preserving it entire in all others." 

It is not pretended that there is any express authority con- 
tained in the Constitution, to justify Congress in embarking in 
a protective system ; but, strange to relate, its advocates pre- 
tend to derive the power from that clause which empowers Con- 
gress to regulate the foreign trade — a power conferred, beyond 
all doubt, to enable Congress to realize the opposite policy, 
and free trade from every shackle. It was given for the pro- 
tection and benefit of commerce ; but when it is employed to 
build up domestic manufactures, it is evident that the power is 
used, not for the protection, but for the embarrassment and 



now IT WAS DESTROYED. 197 

final destruction of commerce. Tlie object of the protective 
system is the home supply ; the object of a commercial system 
is the foreign supply. If articles are furnished at home, they 
cannot be procured from abroad ; and it may come to pass, in 
the realization of the protective system, that foreign trade ■will 
be annihilated. 

Among all the objections urged against the Constitution in 
the Convention, by Henry and his compeers, there was not 
one word said, either by opponent or friend, about the power 
of Congress to protect domestic manufactures, operating, as it 
would, to enrich the North out of the pockets of the South. 
Much was said in opposition to the power to lay import duties 
for revenue, because of the unequal taxation of which it would 
be productive, but nothing about the employment of those du- 
ties for the purpose of enabling the North to engage in manu- 
factures. So strong was the objection, even to collecting the 
public dues in that way, that Mr. Madison said that Congress 
would unquestionably resort to a system of taxation to be 
composed of direct taxes and imposts. 

The power to regulate commerce among the States, is given 
in the same clause that confers the power to regulate com- 
merce with foreign nations. Is it pretended that, under a 
grant of power to regulate commerce among the States, it 
would be competent for Congress to build custom-houses, and 
institute systems of protective duties among the several States 
of the Union. If not, why not ? We know that, under the 
Articles of Confederation, the States were in the habit of lay- 
ing impost duties, directed against each other, and that so 
soon as the new Constitution was adopted, all such duties be- 
came unconstitutional, and that a system of free trade between 
the States was initiated. * 

* " After depicting the great advantages to result from allowing Congress 
to regulate the foreign trade, "The Federalist" adds: "An unrestrained in- 
tercourse between the States themselves, will advance the trade of each, by aa 
interchange of their respective productions, not only for the supply of recip- 
rocal wants, but for exportation to foreign markets." 

When it is borne in mind that the power to regulate commerce with foreign 



198 THE SECTIONAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

It is known that the first tariff, under the present Con- 
stitution, was introduced hy Mr. Madison, and that it was 
purely a revenue tariff — a fact in itself significant. It im- 
posed a five per cent, ad valorem upon all imposts, a scale of 
duties that had been agreed to by the Congress of the Con- 
federation of 1783. But the remarks made by that gentle- 
man on that occasion are important, and prove conclusively 
that he considered that impost duties could be laid only for 
the double object, a free commerce and revenue. He said : 

" In pursuing this measure, I know that two points occur 
for our consideration. The first respects the general regula- 
tion of commerce ; ivhicTi, in my opinion, ought to he as free 
as the policy of nations will admit. The second relates to 
revenue alone." 

In 1785, as already stated, when the commerce of the 
United States, to use the language of Jefferson, " was in ago- 
nies," the State of Rhode Island excepted, all agreed to invest 
Congress with the power to regulate their foreign trade. Is 
it pretended that the transfer of that power to the federal 
government, would have authorized it to embark in a protect- 
ive system ? On the contrary, do we not, everywhere, find in 
the memorials of that period that retaliatory, not protective, 
duties were in contemplation ? It was believed that the mere 
dread of retaliation would have been sufficient to emancipate 
the trade of America. 

Mr. Jefferson says, in speaking of the general action in 
1785 : " I am well informed that the late proceedings in 
America have produced a wonderful sensation in England in 
our favor. I mean the disposition, which seems to be coming 
general, to invest Congress with the regulation of our com- 
merce." 

nations, and among the several States, is conferred on Congress, in the same 
language, nay, in the same breath, we cannot but conclude, that a common 
object -was contemplated by each grant of power, and that if that object was 
an unrestricted intercourse in one case, it must have been an unrestricted 
intercourse in the other, excepting such revenue duties as it might be the 
policy of the government to impose. 



HOW IT WAS DESTROYED. 199 

If we turn to the speeches of George Mason, in the Vir- 
ginia Convention of Ratification, we will discover that he 
spoke on the subject of manufactures, not in connection with 
the Federal Constitution, but as being a department of indus- 
try belonging to nations in an older stage of existence than 
the United States then were. In the order of nature, they 
follow after agriculture and commerce, it being from the sur- 
pluses of those two branches of industry that manufactures 
naturally spring, more particularly from the accumulations of 
trade ; for it is the alluvion of commerce that fructifies a land, 
and prepares it for the growth of manufactures. So far was 
it from the mind of any man in that assemblage to suspect 
that there lay hid, under the folds of the new Constitution, a 
power of that nature. 

By a system of protective duties, it is evident that a steady 
stream of revenue would be produced, which would render 
nugatory a separate power to lay and collect duties for that 
object. But, if the power to regulate commerce be confined 
strictly to commercial objects, and be regarded as a mere mode 
of reaching free trade, no such result would ensue. Thus 
the diff'erent parts of the Constitution would be brought into 
symmetry and harmony. Why could not the power to estab- 
lish a protective system be construed to contain a reveftue 
power, if its constant and necessary result would be produc- 
tive of revenue ? It would not be a greater stretch of the 
constructive power than to infer the power to impose protect- 
ive duties from a simple grant to regulate commerce. Not so 
much ; for we have seen that, in their nature, the one is dia- 
metrically opposed to the other. 

But the strong and, with some, conclusive argument is, that 
Mr. Madison systematically supported and voted for protective 
tariffs ; but, surely, the very opposite and contradictory modes 
of construing the Constitution, at different times, adopted by 
that statesman, greatly impairs the weight of his authority. 
I believe it may be safely stated that he never committed 
himself to any important question of constitutional construe- 



200 THE SECTIONAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

tion, that lie did not afterwards take ground inconsistent with 
it. His chief claim to the public gratitude rests upon the 
Resolutions and Eeport of '98 and '99 — it is the main pillar 
of his fame; yet the world knows that, after they had served 
their turn, and the convenience of the hour had passed, that 
he employed the evening of his life in undermining the work 
of his maturity. In his letter to Joseph C. Cabell, in which 
Mr. Madison labors to prove the constitutionality of a pro- 
tective tariff, after stating that one member in the Massachu- 
setts Convention of Ratification alluded to it as the probable 
object of congressional legislation, he adds that " there was 
nothing said against the existence of that power in any of the 
Southern conventions." This was strictly true, for, as hereto- 
fore stated, there was no allusion whatever made to the sub- 
ject, any more than to the authority of Congress to create a 
monarch or an hereditary aristocracy. But their silence on 
these points would be regarded by every man, except Mr. 
Madison, as a poor argument in favor of the existence of such 
a power. 

But much was said in the Virginia Convention against the 
unequal operation of import duties, even for revenue. Here 
is what Mr. Madison himself said on that subject : " The 
general government, to avoid these disappointments, which I 
first described, and to avoid the contentions and embarrass- 
ments which I last described, willy in all probability, throw the 
public burdens on those branches of revenue which will be 
most in their power. They will be continually necessitated 
to augment the imposts. If we throw a disproportion of the 
burdens on that side, shall we not discourage commerce, and 
suffer many political evils ? Shall we not increase that dis- 
proportion of the Southern States, which, for some time, will 
operate against us ? The Southern States, from having fewer 
manufactures, will import and consume more. They will, 
therefore, pay more of the imposts. The more commerce is 
burdened, the more the disproportion will operate against 
them. If direct taxation be mixed with other taxes, it will 



HOW IT WAS DESTROYED. 201 

he in the power of the general governmeiit to lessen that ine- 
quality. But this inequality will be increased to the utmost 
extent, if the general government have not this power." * — 
{Elliot's Deb., vol. iii. p. 248. 

The reply of Grayson to this part of Madison's speech 
strengthens the inference against the belief, then, in the exist- 
ence of the power to use import duties for the protection 
of Northern manufactures. "But, sir, we are told, that if 
we do not give up this power to Congress, the impost will 
be stretched to the utmost extent. I do suppose this might 
follow, if the thing did not correct itself. But we know that 
it is in the nature of this kind of taxation, that a small 
duty will bring more than a large one, &c." — {Ibid. pp. 
277, 278. 

Grayson evidently did not dream of protective duties, else 
he would not have talked of Congress being confined, by the 
nature of that kind of taxation, to the revenue standard. Did 



* This argument was adJressed to a Southern audience ; but refer to the 
twelfth nuruber of the Federalist, written by Hamilton, where he tells the 
farmers of New York, that direct taxation, for federal purposes, will cease, 
and the revenue will be collected wholly from taxes on commerce. But he 
makes no allusion to protective duties ; on the contrary, both that and the 
preceding number are based on the contrary assumption. Here is other 
evidence looking in the same direction — it is from the pen of Madison — 
"Federalist, No. 54:" 

"In one respect, the establishment of a common measure for representa- 
tion and taxation will have a very salutary effect. As the accuracy of the 
census to be obtained by Congress will necessarily depend, in a considerable 
degree, on the disposition, if not on the co-operation, of the States ; it is of 
great importance that the States feel as little bias as possible, to swell or to 
reduce the amount of their numbers. Were this share of representatioa 
alone to be governed by this rule, they would have an interest in exagge- 
rating their inhabitants. Were the rule to decide the share of taxation 
alone, a contrary temptation would prevail. By extending the rule to both 
objects, the States will have opposite interests, which will control and balance 
each other, and produce the requisite impartiality." 

This salutary check against fraud in taking the census was destroyed, 
when Congress elected to collect all federal taxes through the custom-house. 
However it may have been with others, it could have occasioned no surprise 
to Mr. Madison that the North continued to hold the federal reins. 



202 THE SECTIONAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

Mr. Madison ? It is incontestibly true, that the members of 
the Virginia Convention were impressed with the belief that 
the revenue would be principally derived from direct taxes, 
and with the drawback of a slight revenue tariiF, that com- 
merce would be free. Hence the great importance attached 
to the third of the amendments, which provided that direct 
taxes should be collected in the first instance through the in- 
strumentality of the State governments. 

It has been stated that free trade was, from an ancient 
date, a darling object with Virginia, and one which she had 
kept steadily in view through all political changes. I will add 
another proof. When the Assembly had consented to invest 
the Congress of the Confederation with the five per cent, 
impost, and the power to regulate trade, so apprehensive were 
they of abuse in the exercise of the latter, and that it might 
be perverted to the purposes of revenue, and thereby made an 
embarrassment to commerce, that they expressly stipulated 
the duties, resulting from the regulations of trade, should go 
into the State treasury. 

The reader has not forgotten, when, in the Virginia Con- 
vention of Ratification, he (Mr. Madison) was pressed by 
his able antagonist, as to the wide extent of federal jurisdic- 
tion under the Constitution, that he said : " That the powers 
of the general government relate to external objects, and are 
but few ; but the power of the States relate to those great 
objects which immediately concern the prosperity of the peop)le. 
Let us observe also that the powers of the general govern7nent 
are those which will be exercised mostly in time of war, while 
those of the State governments will be exercised in time of 
peace. But I hope the time of war will be little compared to 
that of peace." 

By the protective system, the federal legislature boldly 
exercised the power of controlling the business of the coun- 
try, of dictating the pursuits of individuals, of regulating 
prices, and of determining where the people should buy and 
sell. No power could be, in its nature, more supreme — it is 



HOW IT WAS DESTROYED. 203 

greater than the power of life and death. It is the power of 
fate, since it fixes the destiny of nations. 

After watching the operations of the protective system for 
half a century, this is the judgment pronounced upon it by 
the great political luminary of his own day and one of the 
wisest men who ever lived: "Delays are said to be dangerous, 
and never was the maxim more true than in the present case, 
a case of monopoly. It is the very nature of monopolies to 
grow. If we take from one side a large portion of the pro- 
ceeds of its labor, and give it to the other, the side from ivhich 
we take must constantly decay, and that to which we give 
must prosper and increase. Such is the action of the ptrotect- 
ive system. It exacts from the South a large portion of the 
proceeds of its industry, which it bestows upon the other sec- 
tions, in the shape of bounties to manufactures and ap)prop>ria- 
tions in a thousand forms ; pensions, improvemeyit of rivers 
and harbors, roads and canals, and in every shape that wit 
or ingenuity can devise."^ 

William Grayson predicted that the action of the govern- 
ment would be directed by a faction of the Northern against 
the Southern States. The vote by which the protective tariff of 
1828 was passed, realized that prophecy. AVatkins Leigh said 
of it : "A gigantic system of protecting duties is proposed — 
the Southern States in vain exclaim against its partial and op- 
pressive operation — in vain deprecate, remonstrate, struggle — 
a bare majority hesitates not to impose the tariff." But it is 
from Mr. Giles that we have the fullest history and strongest 
denunciation of that measure. "An excessive tax," said that 
great man, "has been imposed by that government, as he con- 
ceived, in direct violation of morals, principles and the plainest 
provisions of our written Constitution. It originated in com- 
binations of particular sections of country to tax other sec- 
tions. These combinations were effected by invitations given 
by certain political fanatics to other fanatics to meet in con- 
vention at Harrisburg, during the recess of Congress ; exclud- 

* Calhoun. 



204 THE SECTIONAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

ing all the sections of country intended to be made tributary 
from these invitations. Virginia was not honored -with an 
invitation, nor any State south or south-west of Virginia. This 
convention, thus composed, unblushingly met at Harrisburg in 
open day, organized themselves into a convention, with all the 
assumed names and formalities awarded to this convention ; 
and there laid the foundation of the tariff act which was sub- 
sequently sanctioned by an act of Congress. This act was 
passed in direct violation of every principle of taxation here- 
tofore held sacred, and was addressed to the worst passions of 
the human heart. It was dictated by a spirit of electioneering 
and of avarice, which, reckless of all principle, invited the 
manufacturer to rely upon the labor of others, instead of his 
own labor, not only for suppport, but even for the accumula- 
tion of wealth ; and actually furnished him with the means of 
taking the proceeds of the labor of another, which, if done 
without the sanction of this iniquitous act, would amount to a 
criminal offence. The effect of this act has been to demor- 
alize the whole country, and to impoverish the whole of the 
tributary parts of it." 

It was by the exercise of that unconstitutional power that 
remunerative employment was afforded to the idle hands in 
the North. Emigration to the South * was stopped, and the 
intention of the framers of the Constitution defeated, who 
had expected that in this way representative power would be 
equalized between the sections. The protective system, then, 
was the first blow aimed at the Equilibrium. 

The next blow aimed at the Equilibrium was, by excluding 
slavery, the characteristic of the South, and the principal 
source of her political power, from the public territories. By 
this assumption of power. Congress devoted to the free-soil 
element the northWest territory, and the large and populous 

* Notwithstanding the depressed condition of business in Virginia, there 
was, according to Gov. Randolph, a steady addition to her population from 
the North, about the time that the Constitution was ratified. — Elliot's Debates, 
vol. iii. p, 100. 



HOW IT WAS DESTROYED. 205 

States which have been carved out of it. But for that act of 
exclusion, slavery would have spread over the whole of it, not- 
withstanding the fanciful notion of a climate line. * At that 
time, the slave trade was open, and negroes consequently 
abundant and cheap. That authority has been pronounced a 
usurpation on the part of Congress, but it was not on that 
account less efficacious in making a large addition to the power 
of the North. It was against the constitutional right of the 
South, but that disembodied spirit was powerless to restrain 
aggression until armed with the absolute negative of the 
judiciary. 

It Avill gratify an enlightened curiosity to know what passed 
between the leaders of the Opposition and the advocates of 
the Constitution, upon this subject in the Convention of Vir- 
ginia. Strictly upon this point, nothing ; for it did not occur, 
even to the most morbid apprehension, that the proposed Con- 
stitution clothed Congress with any power -whatever to dictate 
the domestic institutions of any territorial population. That 
required a flight of imagination of which the men of those 
days were not capable. 

But Mr. Grayson, observing that, by the new Constitution, 
Congress was invested with something like a discretion in the 
admission of new States, and, knowing well the instincts of 
the Northern mind, from the developments of sectional policy 
which had already been made, expressed his apprehensions 
that slavery might be construed into a disqualification for ad- 
mission into the American Union. He said : " It appears to 
me, sir, under this section, there can never be a Southern 
State admitted f into the Uiiion. There are seven States, who 



* The western people are already calling out for slaves for their new 
lands ; and will fill that country with slaves, if they can be got through 
South Carolina and Georgia. — George Mason — Mad. Papers, p. 1391. 

■}■ Mr. Webster has declared, that when the Constitution was framed, it 
was not the expectation that there would ever be an addition to the slave ter- 
ritory of the Union. In this, he is assuredly not supported, but plainly con- 
tradicted by historical evidence. Mr. Jefferson, in his correspondence, in- 



206 THE SECTIONAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

are a majority, and whose interest it is to prevent it ; the bal- 
ance being actually in their possession. It is not to be sup- 
posed, then, that they will admit any Southern State into the 
Union, so as to lose that majority." Mr. Madison replied, 
that he thought " this part of the plan more favorable to the 
Southern States than the present Confederation, as there was 
a greater chance of new States being admitted." The subject 
was here dropped, and was not taken up again. 

If the federal government had kept its plighted faith, given 
under the old system, and extended its protecting power to 
the agriculture of the slaveholding States, not even the profits 
of the manufacturing employments in the North could have 
prevented the migration of population from that region South- 
ward. In order, then, for the Northern majority to keep 
power in their hands, it was necessary to allow the existing 
discouragements to Southern enterprise to remain ; for these 
two, in truth, constituted parts of the same system. It had 
another effect: it discouraged the slave trade, which would 
have added political elements to Southern society. If the 
rice of the Carolinas and Georgia had gained admission into 
the general market, upon advantageous terms, there would 
speedily have resulted a great development of that interest. 
The industry of those States would not have sickened, until 
the cultivation of the cotton plant brought with it riches and 
power. 



forms us, that the public men, anterior to the period indicated by Mr. Web- 
ster, confidently expected either to conquer or purchase from the Spaniards, 
the peninsular of Florida. Here is what he speculates about the domain em- 
braced by Louisiana. It would appear that he did not confine his views even 
to the two acquisitions mentioned : "Our confederacy must be viewed as the 
nest from which all America, North and South, is to be peopled. We should 
take care, too, not to think it for the interest of that great continent to press 
too soon on the Spaniards. Those countries cannot be in better hands. My 
fear is that they are too feeble to hold them till our population can be suffi- 
ciently advanced to gain it from them piece by piece. The navigation of the 
Mississippi, we must have. This is all we are, as yet, ready to receive."^ 
To Stewart, Paris, January 25, 1786. 



HOW IT WAS DESTROYED. 207 

But the profitable cultivation of the tobacco plant would 
have produced the largest accession to the representative 
power of the slave section. The tobacco zone stretches over 
an immense area, and wherever tobacco was cultivated, there 
slave labor would have been employed. With the markets of 
Europe thrown open to it, it is not extravagant to say, that 
tobacco would have been then what cotton is now ; for, about 
that time, plaster of Paris was introduced as a manure into 
Virginia, so powerful an agency in restoring fertility to lands 
exhausted by the growth of tobacco. The co-operation, then, 
of the treacherous federal agent with the vindictive tariffs of 
Europe, was another blow struck at the Equilibrium. 

The interdiction of the African slave trade, under high, un- 
usual and unconstitutional penalties, accompanied by the free 
admission of European emigration, under high, unusual and 
unconstitutional encouragements, was still another blow to the 
Equilibrium. When federal power was derived from popula- 
tion, it is a necessary inference that the sectional compromise 
must have embraced both the slave trade and the immiffration 
from Europe — then large enough to excite the apprehensions of 
sober men. To say that the North and South would struggle 
over the question of population, " even to the twentieth part 
of one poor scruple," .and consume days and weeks in estab- 
lishing what they believed would be a balance of federal num- 
bers between the two sections, and, at the same time, utterly 
ignore the copious supplies that were daily arriving from the 
old world, is to accuse them of a want of foresight that would 
be discreditable even to a plowman. There was every thing 
to put the South upon its guard. The American continent, 
so far as they were peopled with the white race, had been peo- 
pled from Europe ; and the tide of emigration was growing 
stronger every day. Then, as now, the great mass of volun- 
tary immigrants preferred to live in the North, being then, as 
now, repelled from the South by our black peasantry. It is 
true, then, as now, an element of the foreign influx went 
Southward, characterised by higher intelligence and greater 



208 THE SECTIONAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

reJSnement, being drawn thither by the higher civilization 
which there prevailed ; but the great bulk of the laboring 
classes went Northward, and planted free-soil society where 
ever they went. Then, as now, the foreign laborer hated 
slavery ; for how could it be in his nature to feel kindly dis- 
posed to him who was a rival in the fields of industry ? The 
foreign laborer occupied not towards the negro slave the same 
relation which a poor man native to the South occupied ; for 
the latter, looking upon him in the natural light of property, 
was ever ready to avail himself of his agency in the creation 
of wealth. But that was not the case with the European 
peasant, who recognised no difference between the negro and 
himself, other than that which grew out of the color of the 
skin and the growth of the hair. 

Mr. Wilson, of Pennsylvania, said, that he would not hear- 
tily agree to the compromise, in virtue of which three-fifths of 
the slaves were to be taken into the representative basis, unless 
some compromise were likewise agreed to with reference to the 
slave trade. This, however, was not done, until later, and in 
another connexion — the basis having been agreed to without 
any restriction being laid on the migration of whites, or the 
importation of blacks. 

Congress was clothed with power, after the year 1808, to 
prohibit the slave trade under the terms of the importation of 
persons. Let us see whether the Southern members of the 
Convention were as attentive to the political interests of their 
constituents, as Mr. Wilson had proved to his ; let us see 
whether they insisted that Congress should be invested with a 
similar power of prohibition over the migration of numbers 
from Europe ; and let us see whether the exercise of power 
over the one was not to be a condition of the exercise of power 
over the other. If Congress were empowered to interdict the 
one, and at the same time encourage the other, it is manifest 
that the work of the Convention would go for nothing, and 
that to the legislature, after all, would be confided the impe- 
rial power to declare which of the two sections should hold 



HOW IT WAS DESTROYED. 209 

the sceptre — -whether the North should be the appendage of 
the South, or the South should be the appendage of the North. 
The Constitution, if I mistake not, ■will, upon scrutiny, be dis- 
covered-to be in accordance with itself, and the principles con- 
tained in one part of that instrument will not contradict and 
nullify the grand idea upon which the whole system is framed. 

By the 9th section of the 1st article of the Constitution, 
it is provided, that " The migration or importation of such 
persons as any of the States, now existing, shall think proper 
to admit, shall not be prohibited by the Congress prior to the 
year one thousand eight hundred and eight, but a tax or duty 
may be imposed on such importation, not exceeding ten dollars 
for each person. 

It is obvious that this language describes two distinct classes 
of persons, the one characterized by a voluntary, the other by 
an involuntary arrival in the country. The terms employed in 
their natural and customary significance draw distinctly a line 
of demarcation between the two. To migrate, implies a vol- 
untary action, while to be imported, implies an absence of all 
volition. The word migrate was employed in 1787, in the same 
sense in which it is now employed. The writings and speeches 
of that period prove this. In the Declaration of Independ- 
ence the word ' migration ' is used in reference to voluntary 
arrivals from Europe, and in the speeches of Grayson and 
others in the Virginia Convention, the word is employed in 
the same sense. No one in those days spoke, as no one now 
could with any propriety speak, of the migration of slaves, 
and no one ever thought of describing the ingress of free- 
men by the term importation. Migrate is the primitive and 
uncompoundcd word, derived from the Latin, from which we 
have emigrate, cowmigrate, transmigrate, but they all imply 
an exercise of the will. 

But the Constitution itself has allowed no doubt to rest 
upon this point, for it has expressly discriminated between the 
two descriptions of persons mentioned, by imposing upon the 
14 



210 THE SECTIONAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

admission of the one a tax or duty of ten dollars, but allowing 
the other to come in without charge. 

But with some the authority of a judicial interpretation is 
stronger than the authority of the Constitution, or even the 
authority of reason. To reach the closed understandings of 
such, I beg leave to introduce the well considered opinion of 
Chief Justice Marshall in the leading case of Gibbons and 
Ogden, 9th Wheaton, p. 216. 

The Chief Justice says : " The section which restrains Con- 
gress from prohibiting the migration or importation of such 
persons as any of the States may think proper to admit, until 
the year 1808, has always been considered as an exception 
from the 'power to regulate commerce, and certainly seems to 
class migration with importation. Migration applies as ap- 
propriately to voluntary, as importation to involuntary, arri- 
vals ; and so far as an exception from a power proves its 
existence, this section proves that the power to regulate com- 
merce applies equally to the regulations of vessels employed in 
transporting men, who pass from place to place voluntarily, 
and to those who pass involuntarily." 

Here, by a great oracle of constitutional law, are not only 
the two descriptions of persons recognised, but they are 
placed upon the same footing as regards the prohibitory 
powers of Congress. Congress had, then, if Gibbons and 
Ogden be considered authority, power to prohibit European 
emigration at the same time that it prohibited the slave trade 
in 1807, and to afflict it with the same penalties. 

It remains now to be examined whether it was the duty, as 
well as the right, of Congress, when it prohibited the slave 
trade, to prohibit, in the same act, emigration. It would be 
enough to say, that the preservation of the Equilibrium be- 
tween the North and South, required this even-handed justice; 
for the federal legislature was as imperatively bound to ob- 
serve that fundamental compromise as to respect any part of 
the instrument whatever. 

But the language of the 9th section, if properly under- 



HOW IT WAS DESTROYED. 211 

etood, gives countenance to this idea. It is wholly negative 
in its character, and gives no sort of power to Congress to 
discriminate between the two classes of persons described, no 
authority to treat them after diflFerent modes. It simply 
declares that previous to 1808 neither the migration nor impor- 
tation of persons shall be prohibited, but that a tax or duty 
may be collected upon the admission of one of them. In the 
case of Smith v. Turner, Chief Justice Taney determines that 
the migration or importation of persons was used to describe 
the subjects of the slave trade. He confounds, as will be 
seen, the distinct classes of persons indicated in the 9th sec- 
tion, and for no better reason than that he may by that means 
avoid the conclusion here sought to be established — that they 
are equivalent political forces, and were to be dealt with alike : 
"If the word can be applied to voluntary immigrants, the 
construction put upon it by those who opposed the Constitution, 
is certainly the just one, for it is difficult to imagine why a 
power should be so explicitly and carefully conferred on Con- 
gress to prohibit immigration, unless a majority of the States 
desired to put an end to it, and to prevent any particular 
State from contravening this policy. But it is admitted, on 
all hands, that it was then the policy of all the States to en- 
courage immigration, as it was then the policy of the far 
greater number of them to discourage the African slave 
trade. With these opposite views upon these two subjects, 
the framers of the Constitution would never have hound them 
hath together in the same clause, and spoken of them as 
kindred subjects tvhich ought to be treated alike, and which it 
would be the probable police/ of Congress to prohibit at the same 
time." 

If Chief Justice Taney had adhered to the interpretation 
of the 9th section, unanimously made by the Court in Gib- 
bons V. Ogden, that two classes of people were described, he 
would have come to the very result, and placed upon its 
language the very construction contended for here. It may 
well excite the amazement of the reader, that his Honor 



212 THE SECTIONAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

should assume the power to expunge from the Constitution a 
•word of significant import, and apply that to slaves, which, 
by the common proprieties of speech, was applicable only to 
freemen, as it may well excite surprise that he should go 
outside of the Constitution, and upon what he chooses to as- 
sume was the state of public opinion in the South, erase from 
that solemn instrument an important and, as I think, vital 
part. Mr. Webster says, that the Constitution must be read 
by its own lights, but Judge Taney appeals to the authority of 
loose tradition. What evidence is there that the Southern 
States were willing, after population had been made political 
power, that the North should receive accessions from Europe, 
and themselves be cut off from accessions from Africa? This 
is the point to which the Chief Justice must address his his- 
torical inquiries. The history of the 9th section in the Con- 
stitutional Convention will throw some light on the question. 

The sectional compromise was in the first place agreed to 
■without any reference whatever to emigration or the slave 
trade. The question was laid by as one of the conclusions to 
which the Convention had come. It appears rather to have 
been the understanding, that no limitation whatever should be 
put to supplies of population derived from either of those 
sources ; for when, towards the close of the Convention, a 
committee of detail was appointed to embody the conclusions 
to which the Convention had come, there was a positive pro- 
vision in their report that " no tax or duty shall be laid by 
the federal legislature on articles exported from any State; 
nor on the migration nor importation of such persons as the 
several States shall thi7iJc proper to admit, nor shall such 
migration or impoi'tation be prohibited.'' 

But the report omitted the sectional compromise which had 
been agreed to, touching representation, which Mr. Williamson 
of North Carolina remarked upon. He moved to insert it. It 
■was inserted, New Jersey and Delaware alone voting against 
it. The report then stood, so far as this question is con- 
cerned, that three-fifths of the slaves were to be admitted into 



HOW IT WAS DESTROYED. 213 

the representation, "with no restriction whatever upon the slave 
trade or its equivalent European emigration. 

But Mr. King, of Massachusetts, took exceptions to It, and 
said that he could never agree to leave the slave trade ojjen 
unless Congress were alloived to tax exports, and that South 
Carolina would not consent to it. A warm debate sprung up 
upon the merits of the slave trade and slavery, in which South 
Carolina and Georgia declared that they would not confederate 
if their right to import slaves was restrained. A committee 
of compromise was appointed, of which Mr. Livingston of 
New York was chairman. 

On the 24th August, Livingston reported : " Strike out so 
much of the 4th section as was referred to the committee, and 
insert, ' The migration and Importation of such persons as the 
several States, now existing, shall think proper to admit, shall 
not be prohibited by the legislature prior to the year 1800 ; 
but a tax or duty may be imposed on such migration or impor- 
tation, at a rate not exceeding the average of duties laid on 
imports.' " * 

* It must not be inferred from the language here employed, that it was the 
intention of Livingston's committee to consider slaves as property. In the 
first Congress, Mr. Madison said, " The collector may mistake, for he would 
not presume to apply the terra goods, wares, merchandise, to any person 
whatever. But if that general definition of goods, wares, and merchandise 
is supposed to include African slaves, why may we not particularly enumerate 
them, and lay the duty pointed out by the Constitution, which, as gentlemea 
tell us, is no more than five per cent, upon their value." Mr. Sherman said, 
"Tlie Constitution does not consider these persons as a species of property; 
it speaks of them as persons, and says, that a tax or duty may be imposed 
on the importation of them." (Annals of Congress, vol. i, pp. 341, 342.) 

But what Mr. Madison said is important in another point of view. If ten. 
dollars, upon the importation of each person, was in truth but five per cent, 
on the average value of imported negroes, and it was the intention of the 
Constitution to " tax them at a rate not exceeding the average of duties laid 
on imports," the inference is very strong that it was the expectation of the 
framers of the Constitution, that an impost of five per cent, was to be exacted 
on all merchandise, and this is strengthened by the revenue tariff which Mr. 
Madison first introduced. It would seem to follow, that the framers of the 
Constitution did not contemplate the establishment of protective duties. 

Mr. Davie, who had been a member of the Federal Couveutiou, thus spoke 



214 THE SECTIONAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

"It was finally agreed," says Mr. Madison, "-without dis- 
sent, to make the clause read 'but a tax or duty may be im- 
posed on such importation^ not exceeding ten dollars for each 
person.' " 

The determination of the Convention to discriminate be- 
tween the two classes of persons, embraced in the ninth sec- 
tion, is certain ; and it is equally certain, from their being 
constantly classed together by the committee of detail, as 
well as by Livingston's committee, that it was intended they 
should be dealt with alike by the prohibitory legislation of 
Congress. This is the impartial conclusion to be draAvn from 
the history of the ninth section and the alterations which it 
underwent in the Convention, as well as from its immediate 
connection with the Equilibrium in federal numbers, which it 
was the avowed intention of the Convention to establish be- 
tween the North and South. Population in a country, with 
an unoccupied and fertile domain, is national wealth, and 
national wealth is, in turn, the parent of population. This 

to this subject in the North Carolina Convention, 23d July, 1788: "The 
Eastern States had great jealousies on this subject. They insisted that their 
cows and horses were equally entitled to representation ; that the one was 
property as well as the other. It became our duty on the other hand, to 
acquire as much weight as possible in the legislation of the Union; and aa 
the Northern States Avere the more populous in whites, this only could be 
done by insisting that a certain proportion of our slaves should make a part 
of the computed population. It was attempted to form a rule of representa- 
tion from a compound ratio of wealth and population ; but, on consideration, 
it was found to be impracticable to determine the comparative value of lands 
and other property, in so extensive a territory, with any degree of accuracy ; 
and population alone was adopted as the only practicable rule or criterion of 
representation. It was urged by the deputies of the Eastern States, that a 
representation of two fifths would be of little utility, and that this represen- 
tation would be unequal and burdensome ; and furthermore, that in time of 
■war, slaves rendered a country more vulnerable, whilst its defence devolved 
on its free inhabitants. On the other hand, we insisted that, in time of peace, 
they contributed, by their labor, to the general wealth, as well as other mem- 
bers of the community ; that, as rational beings, they had a right to represen- 
tation, and, in some instances, might be highly useful in war. On these principles, 
the Eastern States gave the matter up, and consented to the regulation as ithas been 
read. It is the same rule or principle which was proposed some years ago by 
Congress, and assented to by twelve States." 



HOW IT WAS DESTROYED. 215 

great productive power Congress threw into the Northern 
scale, and conj&rmed, in the Northern majority, the means of 
a sectional domination. 

Calhoun says, that " it is the negative power — the power of 
preventing or arresting the action of the government — be it 
called by what name it may — veto, interposition, nullification, 
check or balance of power — which, in fact, forms the Consti- 
tution. It is the negative power which makes the Constitu- 
tion, and the positive which makes the government." Then, 
the positive powers of our system have destroyed its negative 
powers, and Congress has destroyed the Constitution. 

The far-sighted Democrats in Virginia were well persuaded 
that, through the agency of the new government, the North 
would manage to monopolize the commerce of Virginia and 
the rest of the South, and subject that devoted region to a 
commercial tribute. In this, as in their other gloomy appre- 
hensions, the event has justified the prophecy. The United 
States Bank, banking on federal capital, was one of the early 
agencies employed. The funding of the public debt was a 
great stride in that direction. The great mass of the Revolu- 
tionary debt had been bought up by Northern speculators at 
a heavy discount, who had it, according to the statement of 
Patrick Henry, "barreled up."* One of the first acts of the 
new government was to touch, with the wand of the public 
credit, that lifeless mass. A mighty value was created in the 
North, which was applied, under its patronage, to manufac- 
tures, commerce, agriculture and the mechanic arts. These 
acts were but links in the long chain of Federal policy, the 
object of which was to despoil the South, and, with that ill- 
gotten wealth, enrich the North. 

The Romans conquered the world. With the spoils of con- 
quest, they built and adorned their Imperial city, the ruins of 
which only remain. But not the Romans in so short a time 
aggregated such wealth in the garden of Italy, as the central 

* See Mr. Jackson's speech, Annals of Congress, vol. i. pp. 1137, 1138. 



216 THE SECTIONAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

power has lavished on the favorite North. Compare Massa- 
chusetts now with what she was in 1787. Compare New Eng- 
land, compare the whole North, with what it was in 1787. 
Then compare Virginia — dilapidated and broken down, her 
population scattered, her statesmen converted into politicians, 
engaged in the wild hunt after federal office — with what she 
then was ; and we have before us the fruits of the Constitu- 
tion, ratified in Richmond, in June, 1788. 

"When it was proposed to proportion representation accord- 
ing to contribution, the suggestion was discarded. No mode 
of representation could have been more unjust, or more une- 
qual, whether the standard be regulated by indirect or direct 
contribution. Wealth arises, in either case, from causes ex- 
trinsic to the community, and is often derived from and pro- 
perly belongs to the very States and communities over which 
it gives the advantage. The unrestricted trade, which exists 
among the several States, makes them but members of the 
same body. New York city reaps the harvest of wealth from 
the export and import commerce of every State in the Union, 
and her contribution, and, in consequence, her representation, 
would have been derived from and founded upon that wealth. 
" Of all things, this representation, to be measured by contri- 
bution, is the most difficult to settle upon principles of equity, 
in a country which renders its districts members of a whole." 
It aifords, then, no matter of surprise that such a measure of 
power should have been repudiated. 

Whilst the States subsisted under the former Constitution, 
it might have been a just standard of political power ; for the 
possession of the custom-house enabled each of them to main- 
tain a separate and independent system, and placed them, in 
this respect, in an independent attitude towards each other — 
for the custom-house is the great means of restraining com- 
merce, and dictating the channels in which it shall flow. 

But after rejecting the proposition to apportion political in- 
fluence according to contribution, the Convention determined 
to measure it out according to 'population, but which all agreed 



HOW IT WAS DESTROYED. 217 

was an invariable measure of wealth. In this way they did, 
by indirection, the very thing which, by a great vote, they 
had already determined not to do. 

The result of the arrangement has been to swell the repre- 
sentative power of the commercial classes of the North, and 
to increase the preponderance over the South, by the wealth 
derived from the export and import trade of the South. And 
the same may be said with respect to the non-commercial 
States of the West. It has been estimated that not less than 
three millions of people at the North are in this Avay sus- 
tained. This has been the result of the theoretical experi- 
ments on the representative basis. 

It is not going too far to say, that never was there a more 
splendid failure in government, never a more "wretched conclu- 
sion of a grand and ostentatious experiment. Judging the Con- 
stitution by its blasting eftects, it was the great delusion of 
the century that gave it birth — it has well nigh ruined the 
oldest and richest part of the Confederacy — it has pampered 
with ill-gotten riches the frozen hills and bleak valleys of New 
England — it has corrupted by the extravagant and lawless ex- 
penditures to which it has given birth, the morality of a portion, 
and Avill, unless amended or destroyed, gradually undermine 
that of the whole of the people — it has embittered into deadly 
hate the animosities between the North and South, a feeling 
which found its natural expression in the insurrectionary move- 
ment of John Brown — it has done all this, because of the 
vice which its makers introduced in the representation, which, 
like an error in the first concoction, must be followed by disease, 
convulsions and finally death itself. 

Before I close this part of the subject, I wish to bring prom- 
inently before the reader a prophecy of Patrick Henry. He 
said that the Federal Government, under the inspirations of 
the North, would tend to assimilate the social institutions of 
the South to the Northern model, and that it would abolish 
African slavery in Virginia. George Mason thought that abo- 
lition would be brought about through the instrumentality of 



218 THE SECTIONAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

the taxing power, but Henry said, that, whilst he could not 
designate the means that would be employed, he was very 
sure the government would find means to attain that result. 
We are at no loss at this day to know by what instrumentali- 
ties that anticipated result is to be achieved. The first act 
was to interdict the slave trade, the next by annexation and 
purchase to extend the . Southern frontier over regions where 
slave labor would be greatly more valuable than in the neg- 
lected and impoverished tobacco fields of Virginia. The mer- 
cantile principle of supply and demand would very soon draw 
ofi" the slaves of Maryland and Virginia, at the same time 
the tide of European emigration would be pressing upon those 
States from the Northward. 

This policy was avowed by a Senator from Pennsylvania, as 
the one which persuaded him to vote for the annexation of the 
great cotton and sugar regions of Texas. Here, then, was an 
avowed conspiracy of the central agent against the domestic 
institutions of those States, and was a complete realization of 
the marvellous foresight of Patrick Henry. 



HOW IT MAY BE RESTORED. 219 



PART III. 



Union in a body politic is a very equivocal term ; true union is such a harmony as makes 
all the particular parts, as opposite as they may seem to us, concur in the general welfare 
of society, in the same manner as discords m music contribute to the general melody of 
sound. Union may prevail in a State full of seeming commotion ; or, in other words, 
there may be an harmony whence results prosperity, which alone is true peace, and may 
be considered in the same view as different parts of this universe, which are eternally con- 
nected by the action of some, and the re-action of others. — Grandeur and Declension of 
THE Roman Empire. 

To propose alterations, belongs only to those who are so happy as to be born with a ge- 
nius capable of penetrating into the entire Constitution of a State. — Spirit op Laws. 

With tliis admonition before my eyes, I am not disposed 
rashly to plunge into the work of reform ; since it is as diffi- 
cult to mend as to make a Constitution. To restore a princi- 
ple which has been lost from the political frame, wouhl not be 
a task of such magnitude, and would imply no other reform 
than in the mere means of attaining an immediate object, and 
that, experience of defects will enable us to do. So to alter 
the Constitution, as to give to each of the sections a fixed and 
absolute negative on the action of the government in all its 
departments, would be only to do that which the framers of the 
Constitution thought they had done by their unique construc- 
tion of the popular basis. Why they did not proceed directly 
to the attainment of that end, and positively establish an 
Equilibrium, may excite surprise ; but the framers of the Con- 
stitution, as we are told by Madison in the Federalist, had 
adopted, as a fixed and pre-determined point, that federal rep- 
resentation was to be the offspring and result of population. 



220 THE SECTIONAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

We are at no loss, after an examination of the Debates in 
1787, to ascertain their motive for this ; it was to accommo- 
date the populous States with a proportionate power. It was 
that departure from the principles of the Articles of Confede- 
ration, that so infinitely complicated the work. Had they 
adopted the idea of a fixed negative between the North and 
South, they must have abandoned the idea of a proportion 
between power and population, and that neither the large 
States of the North, nor the large States of the South, were 
willing to do. It was impossible, then, with that foregone 
conclusion, for the Federal Convention to have made a good 
Constitution for the North and South. But it is manifest, at 
this day, as it was then manifest to Mr. Madison, that the di- 
viding line of interest was not on the question of magnitude 
between the States, but upon the question of slavery. It may 
well excite the surprise of his posterity, being so fully pos- 
sessed of that truth as he appears to have been, that that 
great man had not acted on his conviction, and have insisted 
upon an equal representation of all the States, together with a 
sectional Equilibrium. 

To restore, then, the Lost Principle to the government, it 
is only necessary for us to profit by the errors of the past, 
and, avoiding those breakers upon which our ship of State has 
been wrecked, to rest upon an immutable basis, a balance of 
power between the North and South. 

But a grave question interposes : Would that which was 
expedient in 1787, be expedient in 1860 ? The Equilib- 
rium or negative power is, in its nature, a conservative princi- 
ple: its object and tendency being to preserve the relative 
condition of parties to the compact of government. Would 
the South be content with this ? In 1787, each section stood 
upon its natural resources, but that is not the case now. 
Power, under the present Constitution, has been employed to 
dignify and enrich the free-soil section, but to degrade and de- 
spoil the slave section. It has given to the inhabitants of the 
sterile and inhospitable North all the advantages of right be- 



HOW IT MAY BE RESTORED. 221 

longing to the fruitful and pleasant South, and to the South, 
the disabilities and the embarrassments naturally belonging to 
the North. To embark anew on an experiment of govern- 
ment with the Northern States, under these altered and dis- 
advantageous circumstances, would be, in the South, the 
extremest folly. 

The experience of the United States, under the present 
Constitution, and the experience under the former Constitu- 
tion, places the people of this country in possession of ample 
stores of political knowledge. It will be necessary in reform- 
ing the federal compact to go beyond the mere restoration of 
the Equilibrium, and place in the power of the States, larger 
powers of self-development than, under the new Constitution, 
they have. But, in order to make that a valuable acquisition, 
the wealth of the federal government must be diminished so as 
not to operate as an attraction to draw intellectual power from 
the service of the several States ; and this will operate as a 
purification of, and will impart a greater stability to the 
general government. 

A great and irresponsible money power leads necessarily to 
despotism, but to despotism by the vile paths of corruption ; 
that it does lead to despotism we have the authority of Madi- 
son, who with open eyes, as his history proves, conferred upon 
Congress the power of a revenue, for the collection and ex- 
penditure of which they are not and never have been respon- 
sible to those from whom the money is extracted. 

^^At one period of the Congressional history they had poiver 
to trample on the States. When they had that fund of paper 
money in their hands, and could carry on all their measures 
•without any dependence on the States, was there any dispo- 
sition to debase the State governments?" 

The necessary reforms would lead to a simple reiteration of 
the Articles of Confederation, amended in those particulars 
in which Henry, and Grayson, and Jefferson admitted they 
needed reform, with the addition, I conceive, of a sectional 



222 THE SECTIONAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

Equilibrium, which none of them, so far as I can discover, 
appear to have contemplated. 

Of the Articles of Confederation, Jefferson thus expressed 
himself: "With all the imperfections of our present govern- 
ment, it is, without comparison, the best existing or the best 
that ever did exist." The sentiment of Jefferson was the 
almost unanimous opinion in the United States at the time 
when that sentiment was uttered. It was not until a later 
period that the faults of that system were exaggerated, or its 
admirable perfections denied. At the time of the meeting of 
the Convention at Annapolis, all parties agreed that the com- 
mercial jurisdiction of the federal government ought to be 
enlarged, but that that power, as we have seen from the letter 
of Washington, must be placed under safeguards against abuse. 
The re-organization of the departments of the government 
was necessary for the dispatch of business, but those defects 
the Congress had in part supplied, by the establishment of 
executive bureaus. The condition of the taxing power, under 
the Articles of Confederation, was one of the most important 
particulars in which that Constitution differed from the present 
Constitution. By the former arrangement the custom house 
was left in the possession of the States, and consequently the 
revenue from customs went into the State treasury, out of 
which, for the most part, the federal quota was paid. As we 
have seen, the proposition to endow Congress with an en- 
larged commercial jurisdiction, did not imply a surrender of 
the custom house to federal authority, the Congress being 
used as a mere organ for negotiating a commercial league 
among the States. No inconvenience had ever resulted from 
the possession of the custom house by the States, so long as 
the States employed it only as a means of collecting revenue 
from imports. The revenue standard, as Grayson tells us, 
had been ascertained. None could afford to fall below that 
standard, nor were any inclined to rise above it, until the 
State legislatures embarked on the fatal policy of retaliating 
on European commerce the burden imposed on their own. 



HOW IT MAY BE KESTORED. 223 

without first having negotiated among themselves, and settled 
a rate of discriminination to be observed by all. 

The possession of the custom house by the State govern- 
ment necessitates a free trade policy, and that would be one 
of its most precious fruits. It would compel the States to be 
just in their domestic policy, and not by plundering one class 
to enrich another. The failure of the States to comply with 
their federal obligations, was referable wholly to inability; the 
country having emerged from a long and exhausting war, in a 
condition of feebleness and poverty, accompanied by the 
pressure of public and private debt. It was under those dis- 
abling circumstances that the old Constitution was tried, cir- 
cumstances which would never recur. And yet, notwith- 
standing those adverse events, it was pronounced by the sages 
of the land the best Constitution for a republican community 
that the world had ever seen. 

Never were a people so devotedly attached to a political 
system as were the people of Virginia to the Articles of Con- 
federation. It was a commodious and elegant structure which 
they sought to repair, but which rash innovators destroyed 
instead, and erected this mighty despotism in its place. I 
have quoted Jefferson's opinion of the old Constitution, I will 
now quote his opinion of the new: "I confess there are things 
in it which stagger all my dispositions to subscribe to what 
such an assembly has proposed. Their President seems a bad 
edition of a Polish king. * * Indeed, I think, all the good 
of this new Constitution might have been couched in three or 
four articles to be added to the old and venerable fabric." 
On another occasion he says : " Our Convention has been too 
much impressed by the insurrection in Massachusetts, and on 
the spur of the moment they are setting up a kite to keep the 
hen yard in order." And he strenuously demanded a new 
Convention. 

It was very evident, from the sectional tendencies in the 
Congress of the Confederation, and the sectional struggles 
which already had thence ensued, that the North and South 



224 THE SECTIONAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

■would not have been able to have lived long under &ny gov- 
ernment which did not, in the first place, equalize power 
between them, and rest it upon an immovable basis. 

A proposition from a highly intelligent and influential 
source, has been recently made, that the federal Constitution 
should be so amended as to arm the South with a negative 
power in the Senate, leaving the other department of the 
legislature and the Executive department to remain subject 
to the dominion of the Northern majority. The error, as I 
esteem it, of the proposed amendment is, that it stops short of 
the full object of a negative power; for the South is as well, or 
better, entitled to claim an Equilibrium in the remaining 
branch of the Legislature and in the College of Electors, 
than in the Senate alone. If the principle be good, why not 
apply it to every object that falls within the scope of that 
principle ? 

The history of the Roman Republic is instructive in this 
regard. The plebeian class abandoned Rome, until the aristo- 
cratic order consented to arm them with the Tribunitian power, 
which, being a check upon the action of the Senate, it was 
hoped would quiet the agitations which convulsed the city and 
heal those discords which threatened its destruction. But that 
hope was disappointed, for the reign of faction continued. The 
healing principle of the veto had been but partially developed, 
and it was only in its full development that Rome could recover 
tranquility, and her political institutions be accomodated to 
the necessities of her condition. The plebeian order claimed 
a full participation in government. They claimed an equal 
share of the consular and priestly powers, and ultimately the 
right of intermarriage with their insolent patrician neighbors. 
Civil dissensions continued to distract the State until those 
concessions were made. The reign of order was the imme- 
diate offspring of those changes in the Roman constitution, 
and Roman power soon began to threaten the world. So it 
happened most naturally that external war was the product of 
internal peace. 



HOW IT MAY BE RESTORED. 225 

The North and South are two nations forming a government, 
and it is the dictate of policy as well as of natural justice, 
irrespective of wealth and populousness, that each should be 
armed with the protecting power of the Equilibrium. 

But if the North, drunk with insolence, will not consent to a 
restoration of the Equilibrium, and to such other amendments 
as experience has proved to be necessary, the South has only 
to withdraw from the violated league and destroy the govern- 
ment growing out of it. "A breach of the fundamental prin- / 
ciples of the compact," said Mr. Madison, whilst this very 
Constitution was on the anvil, "by a part of the society, 
would certainly absolve the other part from their obligations 
to it," — and much more so, if the history of that compact is 
an unbroken chain of usurpations. 

Not because the slave section, constituting a large and pow- 
erful empire, would not be able to maintain a separate existence 
and become renowned among the nations of the earth, but 
because there would be too much homogeneousness pervading 
its social and political elements, that it would be well to offer 
to the free-soil States of the west to form a new federal union. 
Everything would invite those parties to such a compact. The 
west is a great region lying contiguous to the slave section, 
but without a sea front or an independent outlet to the sea. 
The slave section then might become the merchant for conduct- 
ing the foreign exchanges of the west. As already intimated, 
the very antagonism between, and contrary tendency of the 
institutions of the two countries, under a well made gov- 
ernment, would impart to it a greater stability. Each of these 
parties is in about the same stage of development — neither are 
manufacturing, both agricultural, and one is eminently qualified 
from geographical position for an extended foreign trade. 
Deep and navigable streams which almost deserve, as they 
have received, the name of inland seas, bind them closely to- 
gether, and numerous artificial channels of communication 
multiply the means of internal trade. But if the North be hope- 
lessly corrupted by abolitionism, in the west a strong conserva- 
15 



226 THE SECTIONAL EQUILIBRIUM. 

tive feeling survives, •which, with encouragement, ■would rise 
to the ascendant. Under the benign influence of a government 
established on the principle of equality, a brotherhood would 
soon be re-established, and the embers of the old feud would 
grow cold. 

By the Constitution of the Helvetic Confederacy, religious 
subjects are not allowed to be acted on, or even discussed by 
the Diet, and notwithstanding that some of the Cantons which 
compose it were Catholic and others Protestant, that associa- 
tion retained its integrity unimpaired throughout the religious 
wars which, for so long a period desolated Europe. Kingdoms 
were plunged in civil strife ; empires were torn asunder, and 
old monarchies uprooted ; but amid all vicissitudes, the Repub- 
lic of the Alps, cemented by that harmonizing negative, stood 
firm, and exists at this day in pristine vigor to protect the 
independence and defend the liberty of those brave and politic 
mountaineers.* 

If a similar principle, under some modification, had been 
introduced into our federative system, there cannot be a doubt 
that it would have expelled from the federal theatre, every 
question calculated to disturb the relations of the sections 
which compose the Union. 

If it be true that feebleness in the federal agent was about 
to destroy, in 1787, the confederacy of the States, there can 
be no sort of doubt that the excessive power conferred upon it 
by the present Constitution, is about to destroy the union 
between the North and South. The manifestations of the pre- 
sent day establish the truth of this proposition. A speedy 
and radical reform of that Constitution, which by fraudulent 
devices, in 1788, was forced on the people of Virginia, can 
alone save the government from destruction. Reform is the 
parent of conservatism; but the neglect of it, of revolution. 

* It is a remarkable fact that in the discussions -which the Confederacy of 
Switzerland underwent, in the Federal as well as in the Virginia Con- 
vention, that this cardinal point of the Constitution was not commented on. 
Mr. Ranke, in his History of the Popes, takes notice of it as a fundamental 
provision. 



HOW IT MAT BE RESTORED. 227 

This is the lesson of history, and if the people of the 
United States would, indeed, preserve and extend the political 
union among their republican communites, they must, by 
prompt and energetic action, reform the government which 
creates it. 

In this grand movement, Virginia, as well from the deep 
wrongs which she has sustained, as from other circumstances, 
is entitled to lead. With a powerful military organization, 
and fortified by Southern unity, she may yet play a great and 
useful part on the theatre of American afiairs. 

" Methinks I see in my mind a noble and puissant Nation 
arousing herself like a strong man after sleep, and shaking her 
invincible locks ; methinks I see her as an Eagle mewing her 
mighty youth, and kindling her undazzled eyes, at the full 
mid-day beam ; purging and unsealing her long-abused sight 
at the fountain itself of heavenly radiance ; while the whole 
noise of timorous and flocking birds with those also that love 
the twilight, flutter about, amazed at what she means, and in 
their envious gabble would prognosticate a year of Sects and 
Schisms."* 

* Areopagitica. 



APPENDIX I. 



Extract from tlie Journal of the House of Delegates of Vir- 
ginia, Thursday^ October 30, 1788. 

" The House, then, according to the order of the day, re- 
solved itself into a committee of the whole House on the state 
of the Commonwealth; and, after some time spent therein, 
Mr. Speaker resumed the Chair, and Mr. Briggs reported, 
that the committee had, according to order, again had the 
state of the Commonwealth under their consideration, and had 
come to several resolutions thereupon, which he read in his 
place, and afterwards delivered in at the clerk's table, where 
the same were again read, and are as followeth : 

"Whereas, the convention of delegates of the people of 
this Commonwealth, did ratify a Constitution or form of gov- 
ernment for the United States, referred to them for their con- 
sideration, and did also declare that sundry amendments to 
exceptionable parts of the same ought to be adopted ; and 
whereas, the subject matter of the amendments agreed to by 
the said Convention involves all the great essential and ina- 
lienable rights, liberties and privileges of freemen ; many of 
which, if not cancelled, are rendered insecure under the said 
Constitution, until the same shall be altered and amended ; 

'■'■ Resolved, That it is the opinion of this committee, tha^t 
for quieting the minds of the good citizens of this Common- 
wealth, and securing their dearest rights and liberties, and 
preventing those disorders which must arise under a govern- 
ment not founded in the confidence of the people, application 
be made to the Congress of the United States, so soon as they 
shall assemble under the said Constitution, to call a Conven- 



230 APPENDIX. 

tion for proposing amendments to the same, according to the 
mode therein directed. 

" Resolved, That it is the opinion of this Committee, that 
a committee ought to be appointed to draw up and report to 
this House, a proper instrument of writing, expressing the 
sense of the General Assembly, and pointing out the reason 
which induced them to urge their application thus early for 
calling the aforesaid Convention of the States. 

" Resolved, That it is the opinion of this Committee, that 
the said committee ought to be instructed to prepare the draft 
of a letter in answer to one received from His Excellency, 
George Clinton, Esq., President of the Convention of New 
York, and a circular letter on the aforesaid subject of the 
other States in the Union, expressive of the wish of the Gen- 
eral Assembly of this Commonwealth, that they may join in 
an application to the new Congress to appoint a Convention of 
the States so soon as the Congress shall assemble under the 
new Constitution. 

" And the said resolutions being severally again read, a mo- 
tion was made, and the question being put, to amend the same 
by striking out from the word "whereas," in the first line, to 
the end, and inserting, in lieu thereof, the following words : 

" Whereas, ' the delegates appointed to represent the good 
people of this Commonwealth in the late Convention, held in 
the month of June last, did, by their act of the 25th of the 
said month, assent to and ratify the Constitution recom- 
mended, on the 17th day of September, 1787, by the Federal 
Convention, for the government of the United States, declar- 
ing themselves, with a solemn appeal to the Searcher of 
Hearts for the purity of their intentions, under the conviction, 
* that whatsoever imperfections might exist in the Constitution, 
ought rather to be examined in the mode prescribed therein, 
than to bring the Union into danger by a delay, with a 
hope of obtaining amendments, previous to the ratification ;' 
and whereas, in pursuance of the said declaration, the same 
Convention did, by their subsequent act of the 27th of June 



APPENDIX. 231 

aforesaid, agree to sucli amendments to the said Constitution 
of government for the United States, as were by them deemed 
necessary to be recommended to the consideratien of the Con- 
gress which shall first assemble under the said Constitution, to 
be acted upon according to the mode prescribed in the fifth 
article thereof; at the same time enjoining it upon their repre- 
sentatives in Congress to exert all their influence, and use all 
reasonable and legal methods to obtain a ratification of the 
foregoing alterations and provisions in the manner provided 
by the fifth article of the said Constitution, and in all Con- 
gressional laws to be passed in the meantime, to conform to 
the spirit of those amendments as far as the Constitution 
would admit.' 

" Resolved, therefore, That it is the opinion of this Com- 
mittee, that an application ought to be made in the name and 
on the behalf of the legislature of this Commonwealth to the 
Congress of the United States, so soon as they shall assemble 
under the said Constitution, to pass an act, recommending to 
the legislatures of the several States, the ratification of the 
Bill of Rights, and of certain articles of amendment proposed 
by the Convention of this State for the adoption of the United 
States, and that until the said act shall be ratified, in pursu- 
ance of the fifth article of the said Constitution of government 
of the United States, Congress do conform their ordinances to 
the true spirit of the said Bill of Rights and Articles of 
Amendment. 

" Resolved, That it is the opinion of this Committee, that 
the Executive ought to be instructed to transmit a copy of the 
foregoing resolution to the Congress of the United States so 
soon as they shall assemble, and to the legislative and execu- 
tive authorities of each State in the Union. 

"It passed in the negative. 

" Ayes 39 Nays 85 

39 

Majority 46 



232 APPENDIX. - 

" The ayes and noes being called for by Mr. Bland, se- 
conded by Mr. Turberville — 

" The names of those who voted in the affirmative are : 
Francis Walker, Zachariah Johnson, John Tate, Joseph Swear- 
ingen, Martin McFerran, Lawr. Battaile, Roger West, David 
Stuart, John Shearman Woodcock, Thomas Smith, Geo. Clen- 
dennin, Daniel Fisher, Hezekiah Davison, Wm. Heath, Dan'l 
Brodhead, Larkin Smith, Wm. Thornton, Daniel Fitzhugh, 
Bernard Moore, Thos. Pinkard, Levin Powell, Richard Bland 
Lee, Wm. Overton Callis, Richard Morris, James Knox, Sam'l 
Taylor, Francis Corbin, Ralph Wormley, Thomas Laidley, 
Willis Wilson, Hardin Burnley, Jonathan Parsons, John El- 
liott, George Lee Turberville, Francis Kertley, Geo. Baxter, 
William Stuart, James Wilkinson, and John Allen. 

" The names of those who voted in the negative are : Jabez 
Pitt, Edmund Custis, Davis Booker, Peter Randolph, William 
Cabell, Samuel Jordan Cabell, John Trigg, Thomas Leftwich, 
James Barnett, Henry Lee, Notlay Conn, Binns Jones, An- 
drew Meade, Thomas Anderson, John Clarke, John Hunter, 
Anthony New, Thomas Bedford, John B. Scott, Henry South- 
all, Benjamin Harrison, Matthew Cheatham, George Mark- 
ham, French Strother, John Early, George Pegram, Robert 
Boiling Jr., George Booker, James Upshaw, John McDowell, 
James Trotter, Elias Edmonds, John Thompson, William 
Payne, Joel Early, Joshua Rentfro, John Guerrant, Batt Pe- 
terson, Thomas Watkins, Thomas Macon, John Garland, Miles 
Selden, Nathaniel Wilkinson, Thomas Cooper, Abraham Penn, 
John Green Clay, Thomas Kennedy, Alexander Robinson, 
Richard Kennon, Lewis Burwell, Daniel Trigg, John Dan- 
dridge, William McClung, Henry Guy, William Nutt, Abra- 
ham Beacham, Benjamin Lankford, Patrick Henry, Tarlton 
Woodson, Theoderick Bland, Cuthbert Bullitt, William Gray- 
son, Thomas Kemp, William McKee, Charles Campbell, An- 
drew Cowen, Thomas Carter, James Monroe, John Dawson, 
Lemuel Cocke, John Howell Briggs, Thomas Edmunds, Thomas 



APPENDIX. 233 

"West, John S. Lanhorne, Samuel Edmiston, John Lowry, 
Richard Lee and Robert Shield. 

" And then the main question being put, that the House do 
agree ■with the committee of the whole House, in the said reso- 
lutions ; 

" It was resolved in the affirmative. 

" Ordered, That a committee be appointed pursuant to the 
said resolutions; and that Messrs. Briggs, Henry, Benjamin 
Harrison, Grayson, Bullitt, William Cabell, Selden, Monroe, 
Bland, DaAvson, Strother, John B. Scott and Roane be of the 
said committee." 

Here is revealed a most singular and instructive fact, in 
connection with ratification in Virginia, and discloses the true 
temper of the popular mind in reference to that momentous 
event. It will be perceived, by an inspection of the foregoing 
extract of the Journal, that the Federalists and Democrats 
divided by a distinct line, the latter calling for another 
Convention to make another Constitution, but the former 
proposing to preserve it, and yet cure its admitted defects by 
amendments. The majority in favor of setting aside the new 
government, before even it was installed, was, notwithstanding 
the restricted suffrage, and the partial representation which 
prevailed, as great as foi'ty-six. 

Jefi'erson wrote to Short, that the Assembly was possessed 
" hy a vast majority of anti-Federalists, and that Henry was 
supreme." In respect to the party line, he says: '■''The 
friends of the new government ivill oj^pose the method of 
amendment hy a federal convention, which ivoidd subject the 
luhole instrument to change, and they ivill support the other 
method, which admits Congress, hy a vote of two-thirds, to 
suhmit specijie changes to the Assemblies, threefotwths of 
lohom must concur, to establish them.'' 

Are we to measure the popularity of the Constitution by 

this vote ? What interpretation shall be put upon it ? The 

members which composed the popular branch of the legislature 

n '88 had been elected in the previous April, a month after 



234 APPENDIX. 

the members of tlie Convention had been chosen. They must 
have been selected -with reference to their opinions about the 
new Constitution, for that was the absorbing topic. If we 
judge, then, the politics of the members of the Convention, as 
they were supposed to be at the time of the election, by the 
politics of the popular branch of the legislature, the list of 
those who changed sides in the Convention, must be greatly 
enlarged. 

But if we adhere to the idea that parties in the Convention 
were more nearly balanced, and that the defection of Randolph 
and "the few" who were influenced by him cast the scale in 
favor of the Federalists, the proceedings in the legislature are 
nevertheless significant of the disposition of th*e people. 

The legislature held a short session, beginning the 23d of 
June, two days before the Convention adjourned, and after 
transacting business of an ordinary character, the members 
" hurried home," as we are told, " to gather in their harvests." 
But that short visit to their constituents appears to have in- 
stilled into the minds of a great majority of them a most 
determined opposition to the Constitution, which had just 
been accepted by the Convention. 

The legislature convened again in the month of October, at 
which time the proceedings above quoted transpired. It will 
be observed, by comparing the votes given on the two occasions 
that several members who had voted for ratification, now gave 
their votes for calling a Convention to make another Constitu- 
tion, and for undoing the work which they had but just assisted 
to accomplish. The means which had been adopted to stifle 
their voice in the Convention created, no doubt, great indig- 
nation in the particular constituencies which had been misrep- 
resented, and produced a strong general revulsion against the 
new government. I have but little doubt, owing to the opera- 
tion of this cause, that the enemies of the Constitution had 
been multiplied, and that that which was unpopular in spring 
had become odious in autumn. 



APPENDIX II. 



I Insert here the counties represented In the Convention, 
together with the names of the delegates from each county, 
taken from a printed copy of the Journal of the Convention, 
to be found In the State library : 

DELEGATES 
Returned to serve in Convention, 3Tarc7i, 1788. 

COUNTIES. DELEGATES. 

Accomack, Edmund Custis,* George Parker. 

Albemarle, George Nicholas, Wilson Nicholas. 

Amelia, John Pride,* Edmund Booker.* 

Amherst, "William Cabell,* Samuel Jordan Cabell.* 

Augusta, Zachariah Johnston, Archibald Stuart. 

Bedford, John Trigg,* Charles Clay.* 

Berkeley, William Dark, Adam Stephen. 

Botetourt, William Fleming, Martin McFerran. 

Bourbo7i, Henry Lee,* Kotley Conn.-\ 

Brunswick, John Jones,* Binns Jones.* 

Buckingham, Charles Patteson,* David Bell.* 

Campbell, Robert Alexander,* Edmund Winston.* 



•j- Notley Conn, one of the delegates from Bourbon, I do not find to have 
voted on the Constitution ; yet he was a Democrat, judging his politics by 
those of his colleague. He may have dodged in June, but he stood out ia 
October for a new Convention. Nor do I find any trace whatever of Thomas 
Pierce's vote. If, like Conn, he was a Democrat, who, if present, would have 
voted against ratification, the majority for ratification, on the test vote, would 
have been reduced to six votes — to three delegates. 



236 



APPENDIX. 



COUNTIES. 

Caroline, 

Charlotte, 

Charles City, 

Chesterfield, 

Cumberland, 

Culj^ejyer, 

Dinwiddie, 

Elizabeth City, 

Essex, 

Fairfax, 

Fayette, 

Fauquier, 

Fluvanna, 

Frederick, 

Franldin, 

Gloucester, 

Goochland, 

Greenbrier, 

Greenesville, 

Mali/ax, 

Hamjishire, 

Hanover, 

Harrison, 

Hardy, 

Henrico, 

Henry, 

Isle of Wight, 

James City, 

Jefferson, 

King and Queen, 

King George, 

King William, 

Lancaster, 

Loudoun, 

Louisa, 

Lunenburg, 

Lincoln, 



DELEGATES. 

Hon. Edmund Pendleton, James Taylor. 
Thomas Read,* Hon. Paid Carrington. 
Benjamin Harrison,* John Tyler.* 
David Patteson,* Stephen Pankey, jun.* 
Joseph Michaux,* Thomas H. Drew.* 
French Strother,* Joel Early.* 
Joseph Jones,* William Watkins.* 
Miles King, Worlich Westwood. 
James Upshaw,* Meriwether Smith.* 
David Stuart, Charles Simms. 
Hximj)hrey Marshall, John Fowler.* 
Martin Pickett, Humphrey Brooke. 
Samuel Richardson,* Joseph Haden.* 
John S. Woodcock, Alexander White. 
John Early,* Thomas Arthurs.* 
Warner Lewis, Thomas Smith. 
John Guerrant,* William Sampson.* 
George Clendinen, John Stuart. 
William Mason, Daniel Fisher. 
Isaac Coles,* George Carrington.* 
Andrew Woodrow, Ralph Humphreys. 
Parke Goodall,* John Carter Littlepage.* 
George Jackson, John Prunty. 
Isaac Vanmiter, Abel Seymour. 
His Exc'y Gov. Randolph, John Marshall. 
Thomas Cooper,* John Marr.* 
Thomas Pierce, James Johnson. 
Nathaniel Burwell, Robert Andrews. 
Robert Breckenridge, Rice Bullock. 
William Fleet, Thomas Roane.* 
Burdet Ashton, William Thornton. 
Holt Richeson,* Benjamin Temple.* 
James Gordon, Henry Towles. 
Stephens T. Mason,* Levin Powell. 
William Overton Ccdlis, William White.* 
Jonathan Patteson,* Christopher Robertson.* 
John Logan,* Henry Pawling.* 



APPENDIX. 



237 



COUNTIES. 

Madison, 

Mecldeiiburg , 

Mercer, 

Monongaliay 

Middlesex, 

Montgomery, 

Nansemond, 

New Kent, 

Nelson, 

Norfollc, 

Nortliam'pton, 

Nortliuraherland, 

Ohio, 

Orange, 

Pittsylvania, 

Powhatan, 

Prince Edicard, 

Prince George, 

Prince William, 

Princess Ann, 

Randolph, 

Richmond, 

Rockbridge, 

Rockingham, 

Russell, 

Shenandoah, 

Southampton, 

Spottsylvania, 

Stafford, 

Surry, 

Sussex, 

WarwicJc, 

Washington, 

Westmoreland, 

YorJc, 

Williamsburg , 

Norfolk Borough, 



DELEGATES. 

John Miller,* Green Clay.* 
Samuel Hopkins,* Richard Kennon.* 
Thomas Allen,* Alexander Robertson.* 
John Evans,* William McClerry. 
Ralph Wormley, Jr., Francis Corbin. 
Walter Crocket,* Abraham Trigg.* 
"Willis Riddick, Solomon Shepherd. 
William Clayton, Burwell Bassett. 
Matthew Walton,* John Steele.* 
James Webb, James Taylor. 
John Stringer, Littleton Eyre. 
Walter Jones, Thomas Gaskins. 
Archibald Woods, Ebenezer Zane. 
James Madison, Jr., James Gordon. 
Robert Williams,* John Wilson.* 
William Ronald, Thomas Turpin, Jr.* 
Patrick Henry,* Robert Lawson.* 
Theodrick Bland,* Edmund Ruffin.* 
William Grayson,* Cuthbert Bullitt.* 
Anthony Walke, Thomas Walke. 
Benjamin Wilson, John Wilson. 
Walker Tomlin, William Peachy. 
William McKee, Andrew Moore. 
Thomas Lewis, Gabriel Jones. 
Thomas Carter,* Henry Dickenson.* 
Jacob Rinker, John Williams. 
Benjamin Blount, Samuel Kello. 
James Monroe,* John Dawson.* 
George Mason,* Andrew Buchanan.* 
John Hartwell Cocke, John Allen. 
John Howell Briggs,* Thomas Edmunds.* 
Cole Diggs, Richard Cary.* 
Samuel Edmison,* James Montgomery.* 
Henry Lee, Bushrod Washington. 
Hon. John Blair, Hon. George Wythe. 
James Innes. 
Thomas Mathews. 



238 APPENDIX. 

In the above list, the Democrats who stood firm are de- 
signated by an asterisk (*), and those Democrats who are 
believed to have voted with the Federalists are in italics. I 
have ascertained them, I think, with tolerable certainty, by 
the following process : It is not pretended, I repeat, that any 
one of the Federalists voted with the Democrats; but it is 
positively stated by Bushrod "Washington, who appears to 
have been very active on the occasion, that the hope of rati- 
fication rested upon conversions to be made from the Demo- 
crats. It results, from this test, where a delegate from any 
county voted with the Opposition, that the politics of that 
county partook of that complexion, and that where his co- 
delegate sided with the Federalists on the test vote, that he 
did so contrary to the declared wishes of his constituents. 
This test, it is true, may not tell the whole truth, for it may 
have chanced that the entire delegation from a county may 
have gone over to the Federalists. 



APPENDIX III. 



EATIFICATION OF THE CONSTITUTION. 

From the Journal of the Convention of Virginia, held in Richmondf 
on the first 3Ionday in June, 1788. 

"Wednesday, June 25, 1788. — The Convention, according 
to the order of the day, resolved itself into a committee of the 
•whole Convention, to take into farther consideration the pro- 
posed Constitution of Government for the United States ; and 
after some time spent therein, Mr. President resumed the 
chair, and Mr. Mathews reported, that the committee had, 
according to order, again had the said proposed Constitution 
under their consideration, and had gone through the same, and 
come to several resolutions thereupon, -which he read in his 
place, and afterwards delivered in at the clerk's table, where 
the same were again read, and are as followeth : 

Whereas, the powers granted under the proposed Constitu- 
tion are the gift of the people, and every power, not granted 
thereby, remains with them, and at their will : No right, 
therefore, of any denomination can be cancelled, abridged, 
restrained or modified by the Congress, by the Senate, or 
House of Representatives, acting in any capacity ; by the 
President, or any department, or officer of the United States, 
except in those instances in which power is given by the Con- 
stitution for those purposes : and among other essential rights, 
liberty of conscience and of the press cannot be cancelled, 



240 APPENDIX. 

abridged, restrained or modified by any authority of- the 
United States. 

And whereas, any imperfections which may exist in the said 
Constitution ought rather to be examined in the mode pre- 
scribed therein for obtaining amendments, than by a delay, 
with a hope of obtaining previous amendments, to bring the 
Union into danger : 

Unsolved, that it is the ojnnion of this committee, That the 
said Constitution be ratified. 

But in order to relieve the apprehension of those who may 
be solicitous for amendments. 

Resolved, that it is the opinion of this committee, That 
whatsoever amendments may be deemed necessary, be recom- 
mended to the consideration of the Congress, which shall first 
assemble under the said Constitution, to be acted upon accord- 
ing to the mode prescribed in the fifth article thereof. 

The first resolution being read a second time, a motion was 
made, and the question being put to amend the same, by sub- 
stituting, in lieu of the said resolution and its preamble, the 
following resolution : 

" Resolved, That previous to the ratification of the new 
Constitution of Government, recommended by the late Fede- 
ral Convention, a Declaration of Rights, asserting and secur- 
ing from encroachment the great privileges of Civil and 
Religious Liberty, and the inalienable rights of the People, 
together with amendments to the most exceptionable parts of 
the said Constitution of Government, ought to be referred by 
this Convention to the other States in the American Con- 
federacy for their consideration." 

It passed in the negative — ayes, 80; noes, 88. 

On motion of Mr. Patrick Henry, seconded by Mr. Theo- 
derick Bland, the ayes and noes on the said question were 
taken, as followeth : 

A7/es — Messrs. Edmund Custis, Jno. Pride, Edmund Booker, 
William Cabell, Samuel Jordan Cabell, John Trigg, Charles 
Clay, Henry Lee (of Bourbon), The Honorable John Jones, 



APPENDIX. 241 

Binn Jones, Charles Patteson, David Bell, Robert Alexander, 
Edmund Winston, Thomas Read, Benjamin Harrison, The 
Honorable John Tyler, David Patteson, Stephen Pankey, Jr., 
Joseph Michaux, Thomas H. Drew, French Strother, Joel 
Early, Joseph Jones, William Watkins, Meriwether Smith, 
James Upshaw, John Fowler, Samuel Richardson, Joseph 
Haden, John Early, Thomas Arthurs, John Guerrant, William 
Sampson, Isaac Coles, George Carrington, Parke Goodall, 
John Carter Littlepage, Thomas Cooper, John Marr, Thomas 
Roane, Holt Richeson, Benjamin Temple, Stephens Thompson 
Mason, William White, Jonathan Patterson, Christopher Rob- 
ertson, John Logan, Henry Pawling, John Miller, Green Clay, 
Samuel Hopkins, Richard Kennon, Thomas Allen, Alexander 
Robertson, John Evans, Walter Crocket, Abraham Trigg, 
Matthew Walton, John Steele, Robert Williams, John Wilson 
(of Pittsylvania), Thomas Turpin, Patrick Henry, Robert 
Lawson, Edmund Ruffin, Theoderick Bland, William Grayson, 
Cuthbert Bullitt, Thomas Carter, Henry Dickenson, James 
Monroe, John Dawson, George Mason, Andrew Buchanan, 
John Howell Briggs, Thos. Edmunds, The Honorable Richard 
Cary, Samuel Edmison and James Montgomery — 80. 

Noes — The Honorable Edmund Pendleton, Esq., President, 
Messrs. George Parker, George Nicholas, Wilson Nicholas, 
Zachariah Johnson, Archibald Stuart, William Dark, Adam 
Stephen, Martin McFerran, William Fleming, James Taylor 
(of Caroline), The Honorable Paul Carrington, Miles King, 
Worlich Westwood, David Stuart, Charles Simms, Humphrey 
Marshall, Martin Pickett, Humphrey Brooke, John S. Wood- 
cock, Alexander White, Warner Lewis, Thomas Smith, George 
Clendinen, John Stuart, William Mason, Daniel Fisher, Andrew 
Woodrow, Ralph Humphreys, George Jackson, John Prunty, 
Isaac Vanmiter, Abel Seymour, His Excellency Governor Ran- 
dolph, John Marshall, Nathaniel Burwell, Robert Andrews, 
James Johnson, Robert Breckenridge, Rice Bullock, William 
Fleet, Burdet Ashton, William Thornton, James Gordon (of 
Lancaster), Henry Towles, Levin Powell, Wm. Overton Callis, 
16 



242 APPENDIX. 

Ralph Wormeley, Jr., Francis Corbin, William McClerry, 
Willis Riddick, Solomon Sheppard, William Clayton, Burwell 
Bassett, Jas. Webb, Jas, Taylor (of Norfolk), John Stringer, 
Littleton Eyre, Walter Jones, Thomas Gaskins, Archibald 
Woods, Ebenezer Zane, The Honorable James Madison, James 
Gordon (of Orange), William Ronald, Anthony Walke, Thomas 
Walke, Benjamin Wilson, John Wilson (of Randolph), Walker 
Tomlin, William Peachey, William McKee, Andrew Moore, 
Thomas Lewis, Gabriel Jones, Jacob Rinker, John Williams, 
Benjamin Blunt, Samuel Kello, John Hartwell Cocke, John 
Allen, Cole Digges, Henry Lee (of Westmoreland), Bushrod 
Washington, The Honorable John Blair, The Honorable George 
Wythe, James Innes and Thomas Mathews — 88. 

And then the main question being put, that the Convention 
do agree with the committee in the said first resolution, 

It was resolved in the afiirmative — ayes, 89 ; noes, 79. 

On motion of Mr. George Mason, seconded by Mr. Patrick 
Henry, the ayes and noes on the said main question were 
taken as folio weth : 

Ayes — The Honorable Edmund Pendleton, Esq., President, 
Messrs. George Parker, George Nicholas, Wilson Nicholas, 
Zachariah Johnson, Archibald Stuart, William Dark, Adam 
Stephen, Martin McFerran, William Fleming, James Taylor 
(of Caroline), The Honorable Paul Carrington, David Patte- 
son. Miles King, Worlich Westwood, David Stuart, Charles 
Simms, Humphrey Marshall, Humphrey Brooke, Martin Pick- 
ett, John Shearman Woodcock, Alexander White, Warner 
Lewis, Thomas Smith, George Clendinen, Jno. Stuart, William 
Mason, Daniel Fisher, Andrew Woodrow, Ralph Humphreys, 
George Jackson, John Prunty, Isaac Vanmiter, Abel Seymour, 
His Excellency Governor Randolph, John Marshall, Nathaniel 
Burwell, Robert Andrews, James Johnson, Robert Brecken- 
ridge. Rice Bullock, William Fleet, Burdet Ashton, William 
Thornton, James Gordon (of Lancaster), Henry Towles, Levin 
Powell, William Overton Callis, Ralph Wormeley, Jr., Francis 
Corbin, William McClerry, Willis Riddick, Solomon Sheppard, 



APPENDIX. 243 

William Clayton, Burwell Bassett, James Webb, James Taylor 
(of Norfolk), John Stringer, Littleton Eyre, Walter Jones, 
Thomas Gaskins, Archibald Woods, Ebenezer Zane, The Hon- 
orable James Madison, James Gordon (of Orange), William 
Ronald, Anthony Walke, Thomas Walke, Benjamin Wilson, 
John Wilson (of Randolph), Walker Tomlin, William Peachey, 
William McKee, Andrew Moore, Thos. Lewis, Gabriel Jones, 
Jacob Rinker, John Williams, Benjamin Blunt, Samuel Kello, 
John Hartwell Cocke, John Allen, Cole Digges, Henry Lee 
(of Westmoreland), Bushrod Washington, The Honorable John 
Blair, The Honorable George Wythe, James Innes and Thomas 
Mathews— 89. 

Noes — Messrs. Edmund Custis, Jno. Pride, Edmund Booker, 
William Cabell, Samuel Jordan Cabell, John Trigg, Charles 
Clay, Henry Lee (of Bourbon), The Honorable John Jones, 
Binns Jones, Charles Patteson, David Bell, Robert Alexander, 
Edmund Winston, Thomas Read, Benjamin Harrison, The 
Honorable John Tyler, Stephen Pankey, Jr., Joseph Michaux, 
Thomas H. Drew, French Strother, Joel Early, Joseph Jones, 
William Watkins, Meriwether Smith, James Upshaw, John 
Eowler, Sam'l Richardson, Joseph Haden, Jno. Early, Thomas 
Arthurs, Jno. Guerrant, William Sampson, Isaac Coles, George 
Carrington, Parke Goodall, John Carter Littlepage, Thomas 
Cooper, John Marr, Thomas Roane, Holt Richeson, Benjamin 
Temple, Stephens Thompson Mason, William White, Jonathan 
Patteson, Christopher Robertson, John Logan, Henry Pawling, 
John Miller, Green Clay, Samuel Hopkins, Richard Kennon, 
Thomas Allen, Alexander Robertson, John Evans, Walter 
Crockett, Abraham Trigg, Matthew Walton, John Steele, 
Robert Williams, John Wilson (of Pittsylvania), Thomas Tur- 
pin, Patrick Henry, Robert Lawson, Edmund Ruffin, Theo- 
derick Bland, William Grayson, Cuthbert Bullitt, Thomas 
Carter, Henry Dickenson, Jas. Monroe, John Dawson, George 
Mason, Andrew Buchanan, John Howell Briggs, Thomas Ed- 
munds, The Honorable Richard Cary, Samuel Edmison and 
James Montgomery — 79. 



244 APPENDIX. 

The second resolution being then read a second time, a 
motion was made, and the question being put to amend the 
same by striking out the preamble thereto, 

It was resolved in the affirmative. 

And then the main question being put, that the Conven- 
tion do agree with the committee in the second resolution so 
amended, 

It was resolved in the affirmative. 

On motion, 

Ordered, That a committee be appointed to prepare and 
report a form of ratification, pursuant to the first resolution ; 
and that his Excellency Governor Randolph, Messrs. Nicholas, 
Madison, Marshall and Corbin compose the said committee. 

On motion, 

Ordered, That a committee be appointed to prepare and 
report such amendments as shall by them be deemed necessary 
to be recommended, pursuant to the second resolution; and 
that the Honorable Geo. Wythe, Messrs. Harrison, Mathews, 
Henry, His Excellency Governor Randolph, George Mason, 
Nicholas, Grayson, Madison, Tyler, John Marshall, Monroe, 
Ronald, Bland, Meriwether Smith, The Honorable Paul Car- 
rington, Innes, Hopkins, The Honorable John Blair and Simms 
compose the said committee. 

His Excellency Governor Randolph reported, from the com- 
mittee appointed, according to order, a form of ratification, 
which was read and agreed to by the Convention, in the words 
following : 

Virginia, to wit : 

We, the Delegates of the People of Virginia, duly 
elected in pursuance of a recommendation from the General 
Assembly, and now met in Convention, having fully and freely 
investigated and discussed the proceedings of the Federal 
Convention, and being prepared, as well as the most mature 
deliberation hath enabled us, to decide thereon, do, in the 
name and in behalf of the People of "Virginia, declare and 



APPENDIX. 245 

make known, that the powers granted under the Constitution, 
being derived from the People of the United States, may 
he resumed by them whensoever the same shall be perverted 
to their injury or oppression, and that every power, not 
granted thereby, remains with them, and at their will ; that, 
therefore, no right, of any denomination, can be cancelled, 
abridged, restrained, or modified, by the Congress, by the 
Senate or House of Representatives, acting in any capacity ; 
by the President, or any department, or officer of the United 
States, except in those instances in which power is given by 
the Constitution, for those purposes ; and that, among other 
essential rights, the liberty of conscience, and of the press, 
cannot be cancelled, abridged, restrained, or modified, by any 
authority of the United States. 

With these impressions, with a solemn appeal to the 
Searcher of Hearts for the purity of our intentions, and 
under the conviction, that whatsover imperfections may exist 
in the Constitution, ought rather to be examined in the mode 
prescribed therein, than to bring the Union into danger by 
a delay, with a hope of obtaining amendments, previous to the 
ratification : 

We, the said Delegates, in the name and in behalf of the 
People of Virginia, do, by these presents, assent to and 
RATIFY the Constitution, recommended on the seventeenth 
day of September, one thousand seven hundred and eighty- 
seven, by the Federal Convention for the Government of 
the United States, hereby announcing to all those whom it 
may concern, that the said Constitution is binding upon the 
said People, according to an authenticated copy hereto an- 
nexed, in the words following, &c. 



246 APPENDIX. 



THE VIRGINIA AMENDMENTS. 

Friday, June 27, 1788. — Another engrossed form of the 
ratification agreed to on Wednesday last, containing the pro- 
posed Constitution of Government, as recommended by the 
Federal Convention, on the seventeenth day of September, 
one thousand seven hundred and eighty-seven, being prepared 
by the Secretary, was read, and signed by the President, in 
behalf of the Convention. 

On motion. 

Ordered, That the said ratification be deposited, by the 
Secretary of this Convention, in the archives of the General 
Assembly of this State. 

Mr. Wythe reported, from the committee appointed, such 
amendments to the proposed Constitution of Government for 
the United States, as were by them deemed necessary to be 
recommended to the consideration of the Congress which shall 
first assemble under the said Constitution, to be acted upon 
according to the mode prescribed in the fifth article thereof; 
and he read the same in his place, and afterwards delivered 
them in at the clerk's table, where the same were again read, 
and are as followeth: 

That there be a Declaration or Bill of Rights, asserting 
and securing from encroachment the essential and unalienable 
rights of the people in some such manner as the following : 

1. That there are certain natural rights, of which men, 
when they form a social compact, cannot deprive or divest 
their posterity ; among which are the enjoyment of life and 
liberty, with the means of acquiring, possessing and pro- 
tecting property, and pursuing and obtaining happiness and 
safety. ^ 

2. That all power is naturally vested in, and consequently 



APPENDIX. 247 

derived from, the people; that magistrates, therefore, are 
their trustees and agents, and at all times amenable to them. 

3. That government ought to be instituted for the common 
benefit, protection and security of the people ; and that the 

<^ doctrine of non-resistance against arbitrary power and oppres- 
1 sion is absurd, slavish and destructive to the good and happi- 
ness of mankind. 

4. That no man, or set of men, are entitled to exclusive or 
separate public emoluments or privileges from the community, 
but in consideration of public services ; which not being 
descendible, neither ought the offices of magistrate, legislator, 
or any other public office to be hereditary. 

5. That the legislative, executive and judiciary powers of 
government should be separate and distinct ; and that the 
members of the two first may be restrained from oppression, 
by feeling and participating the public burthens, they should, 
at fixed periods, be reduced to a private station, return into 
the mass of the people, and the vacancies be supplied by 
certain and regular elections ; in which all or any part of 
the former members to be eligible or ineligible, as the rules 
of the Constitution of Government and the laws shall direct. 

6. That the elections of representatives in the legislature 
ought to be free and frequent, and all men, having sufficient 
evidence of permanent common interest with and attachment 
to the community, ought to have the right of sufii-age ; and no 
aid, charge, tax or fee can be set, rated or levied upon the 
people, without their own consent, or that of their repre- 
sentatives so elected, nor can they be bound by any law, to 
•which they have not, in like manner, assented for the public 
good. 

7. That all power of suspending laws, or the execution 
of laws, by any authority, without the consent of the repre- 
sentatives of the people in the legislature, is injurious to their 
rights, and ought not to be exercised., 

8. That in all criminal and capital prosecutions, a man hath 



248 APPENDIX. 

a right to demand the cause and nature of his accusation, to 
be confronted with the accusers and witnesses, to call for evi- 
dence and be allowed counsel in his favor, and to a fair and 
speedy trial by an impartial jury of his vicinage ; without 
whose unanimous consent he cannot be found guilty, (except 
in the government of the land and naval forces,) nor can any 
man be compelled to give evidence against himself. 

9. That no freeman ought to be taken, imprisoned or dis- 
seized of his freehold, liberties, privileges or franchises, or 
outlawed or exiled, or in any manner destroyed or deprived 
of life, liberty or property, but by the law of the land. 

10. That every freeman, restrained in his liberty, is entitled 
to a remedy to inquire into the lawfulness thereof, and to re- 
move the same, if unlawful, and that such remedy ought not 
to be denied nor delayed. 

11. That in controversies respecting property, and in dis- 
putes between man and man, the ancient trial by jury is one 
of the greatest securities to the rights of the people, and ought 
to remain sacred and inviolable. 

12. That every freeman ought to find a certain remedy, by 
recourse to the laws, for all injuries and wrongs he may re- 
ceive in his person, property or character. He ought to 
obtain right and justice freely, without sale ; completely, and 
without denial ; promptly, and without delay ; and that all 
establishments or regulations contravening these rights are 
oppressive and unjust. 

13. That excessive bail ought not to be required, nor 
excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments 
inflicted. 

14. That every freeman has a right to be secure from all 
unreasonable searches and seizures of his person, his papers 
and property ; . all warrants, therefore, to search suspected 
places, or seize any freeman, his papers or property, without 
information upon oath (or affirmation of a person religiously 
scrupulous of taking an oath) of legal and sufficient cause, are 



APPENDIX. 249 

grievous and oppressive ; and all general warrants, to search 
suspected places, or to apprehend any suspected person, with- 
out specially naming or describing the place or person, are 
dangerous, and ought not to be granted. 

15. That the people have a right peaceably to assemble 
together to consult for the common good, or to instruct their 
representatives ; and that every freeman has a right to apply 
to the legislature for redress of grievances. 

16. That the people have a right to freedom of speech, and 
of writing and publishing their sentiments ; that the freedom 
of the press is one of the greatest bulwarks of liberty, and 
ought not to be violated. 

17. That the people have a right to keep and bear arms ; 
that a well-regulated militia, composed of the body of the 
people trained to arms, is the proper, natural and safe defence 
of a free State. That standing armies in time of peace are 
dangerous to liberty, and, therefore, ought to be avoided, 
as far as the circumstances and protection of the community 
will admit ; and that, in all cases, the military should be 
under strict subordination to, and governed by, the civil 
power. 

18. That no soldier in time of peace ought to be quartered 
in any house without the consent of the owner, and in time of 
war in such manner only as the laws direct. 

19. That any person religiously scrupulous of bearing arms 
ought to be exempted, upon payment of an equivalent to 
employ another to bear arms in his stead. 

20. That religion, or the duty which we owe to our Creator, 
and the manner of discharging it, can be directed only by 
reason and conviction, not by force or violence, and, there- 
fore, all men have an equal, natural and unalienable right to 
the free exercise of religion, according to the dictates of 
conscience, and that no particular religious sect or society 
ought to be favored or established by law in preference to 
others. 



250 APPENDIX. 



AMENDMENTS TO THE CONSTITUTION. 

1. That each State in the Union shall respectively retain 
every power, jurisdiction and right, which is not by this Con- 
stitution delegated to the Congress of the United States, or 
to the Departments of the Federal Government. 

2. That there shall be one Representative for every thirty 
thousand, according to the enumeration or census mentioned 
in the Constitution, until the whole number of Representatives 
amounts to two hundred ; after which that number shall be 
continued or increased, as Congress shall direct, upon the 
principles fixed in the Constitution, by apportioning the Rep- 
resentatives of each State to some greater number of people, 
from time to time, as population increases. 

3. When the Congress shall lay direct taxes or excises, they 
shall immediately inform the Executive power of each State, 
of the quota of such State according to the census herein 
directed, which is proposed to be thereby raised ; and if the 
Legislature of any State shall pass a law which shall be 
effectual for raising such quota at the time required by Con- 
gress, the taxes and excises laid by Congress shall not be col- 
lected in such State. 

4. That the members of the Senate and House of Repre- 
sentatives shall be ineligible to, and incapable of holding, any 
civil office under the authority of the United States, during 
the time for which they shall respectively be elected. 

5. That the Journals of the proceedings of the Senate and 
House of Representatives shall be published at least once in 
every year, except such parts thereof relating to treaties, 
alliances, or military operations, as in their judgment require 
secrecy. 

6. That a regular statement and account of the receipts and 
expenditures of all public moneys shall be published once in 
every year. 

■ 7. That no commercial treaty shall be ratified without the 



appendix/ 251 

concurrence of two-thirds of the whole number of the members 
of the Senate ; and no treaty, ceding, contracting, restraining 
or suspending the territorial rights or claims of the United 
States, or any of them, or their, or any of their rights or 
claims to fishing in the American Seas, or navigating the 
American Rivers, shall be made but in cases of the most 
urgent and extreme necessity, nor shall any such treaty be 
ratified without the concurrence of three-fourths of the whole 
number of the members of both Houses respectively. 

8. That no navigation law, or laws, regulating Commerce, 
shall be passed without the consent of two-thirds of the mem- 
bers present in both Houses. 

9. That no standing army or regular troops shall be raised 
or kept up in time of peace, without the consent of two-thirds 
of the members present in both Houses. 

10. That no soldier shall be enlisted for any longer term 
than four years, except in time of war, and then for no longer 
term than the continuance of the war. 

11. That each State respectively shall have the power to 
provide for organizing, arming and disciplining its own militia, 
whensoever Congress shall omit or neglect to provide for the 
same. That the militia shall not be subject to martial law, 
except when in actual service in time of war, invasion or rebel- 
lion ; and when not in the actual service of the United States, 
shall be subject only to such fines, penalties, and punish- 
ments, as shall be directed or inflicted by the laws of its own 
State. 

12. That the exclusive power of legislation given to Con- 
gress over the Federal Town and its adjacent district, and 
other places purchased or to be purchased by Congress of any 
of the States, shall extend only to such regulations as respect 
the police and good government thereof. 

13. That no person shall be capable of being President of 
the United States for more than eight years in any term of 
sixteen years. 

14. That the Judicial power of the United States shall be 



252 APPENDIX. 

vested in one Supreme Court and in such Courts of Admiralty 
as Congress may from time to time ordain and establish in 
any of the different States. The Judicial poTver shall extend 
to all cases in law and equity arising under treaties made, or 
which shall be made, under the authority of the United States ; 
to all cases affecting Ambassadors, other foreign Ministers and 
Consuls ; to all cases of admiralty and maritime jurisdiction ; 
to controversies to which the United States shall be a party ; 
to controversies between two or more States, and between 
parties claiming lands under the grants of different States. 
In all cases affecting Ambassadors, other foreign Ministers 
and Consuls, and those in which a State shall be a party, the 
Supreme Court shall have original jurisdiction ; in all other 
cases the Supreme Court shall have appellate jurisdiction, as 
to matters of law only ; except in cases of equity and of ad- 
miralty and maritime jurisdiction, in which the Supreme Court 
shall have appellate jurisdiction both as to law and fact, with 
such exceptions and under such regulations as the Congress 
shall make : but the judicial power of the United States shall 
extend to no case where the cause of action shall have origin- 
ated before the ratification of this Constitution ; except in 
disputes between States about their territory ; disputes be- 
tween persons claiming lands under the grants of different 
States, and suits for debts due the United States. 

15. That in criminal prosecutions, no man shall be re- 
trained in the exercise of the usual and accustomed right of 
challenging or excepting to the jury. 

16. That Congress shall not alter, modify, or interfere in 
the times, places, or manner of holding elections for Senators 
and Representatives, or either of them, except when the Legis- 
lature of any State shall neglect, refuse, or be disabled by 
invasion or rebellion to prescribe the same. 

17. That those clauses which declare that Congress shall 
not exercise certain powers be not interpreted in any man- 
ner whatsoever, to extend the powers of Congress : but that 
they be construed either as making exceptions to the specified 



APPENDIX. 253 

powers of Congress ■where this shall be the case, or otherwise, 
as inserted merely for greater caution. 

18. That the laws ascertaining the compensation of Sena- 
tors and Representatives for their services be postponed in 
their operations until after the election of Representatives im- 
mediately succeeding the passing thereof, that excepted, which 
shall first be passed on the subject. 

19. That some tribunal other than the Senate be provided 
for trying impeachments of Senators. 

20. That the salary of a Judge shall not be increased or 
diminished during his continuance in office, otherwise than by 
general regulations of salary which may take place on a revi- 
sion of the subject at stated periods of not less than seven 
years, to commence from the time such salaries shall be first 
ascertained by Congress. 

And the Convention do, in the name and behalf of the 
people of this Commonwealth, enjoin it upon their Represent- 
atives in Congress, to exert all their influence and use all 
reasonable and legal methods to obtain a ratification of the 
foregoing alterations and provisions in the manner provided 
by the fifth article of the said Constitution ; and in all Con- 
gressional laws be passed in the mean time, to conform to the 
spirit of these amendments as far as the said Constitution will 
admit. 

And so much of the said amendments as is contained in the 
first twenty articles, constituting the Bill of Rights, being 
again read : 

Resolved, That this Convention doth concur therein. 

The other amendments to the said proposed Constitution, 
contained in twenty-one articles, being then again read, a 
motion was made, and the question being put, to amend the 
same by striking out the third article, containing these 
words : 

" When Congress shall lay direct taxes or excises, they 
shall immediately inform the Executive power of each State, 
of the quota of such State according to the census herein 



254 APPENDIX. 

directed, which is proposed to be thereby raised ; and if the 
Legislature of any State shall pass a law which shall be 
effectual for raising such quota at the time required by Con- 
gress, the taxes and excises laid by Congress, shall not be 
collected in such State ; " 

It passed in the negative — ayes, 65 ; noes, 85. 

On motion of Mr. George Nicholas, seconded by Mr. Ben- 
jamin Harrison, the ayes and noes on the said question were 
taken as followeth : 

Ayes — Messrs. George Parker, George Nicholas, Wilson 
Nicholas, Zachariah Johnston, Archibald Stuart, William Dark, 
Adam Stephen, Martin McFerran, James Taylor (of Caro- 
line), David Stuart, Charles Simms, Humphrey Marshall, 
Martin Pickett, Humphrey Brooke, John Shearman Wood- 
cock, Alexander White, Warner Lewis, Thomas Smith, John 
Stuart, Daniel Fisher, Alexander Woodrow, George Jackson, 
John Prunty, Abel Seymour, His Excellency Governor Ran- 
dolph, John Marshall, Nathaniel Burwell, Robert Andrews, 
James Johnson, Rice Bullock, Burdet Ashton, William Thorn- 
ton, Henry Towles, Levin Powell, William Overton Callis, 
Ralph Wormeley, Francis Corbin, William McClerry, James 
Webb, James Taylor (of Norfolk), John Stringer, Littleton 
Eyre, Walter Jones, Thomas Gaskins, Archibald Woods, The 
Honorable James Madison, James Gordon (of Orange), Wil- 
liam Ronald, Thomas Walke, Benjamin Walke, John Wilson, 
William Peachey, Andrew Moore, Thomas Lewis, Gabriel 
Jones, Jacob Rinker, John Williams, Benjamin Blunt, Samuel 
Kello, John Allen, Cole Digges, Bushrod Washington, The 
Honorable George Wythe and Thomas Mathews — 65. 

Noes — The Honorable Edmund Pendleton, Esquire, Presi- 
dent, Messrs. Edmund Custis, John Pride, William Cabell, 
Samuel Jordan Cabell, John Trigg, Charles Clay, William 
Fleming, Henry Lee (of Bourbon), John Jones, Binns Jones, 
Charles Patteson, David Bell, Robert Alexander, Edmund 
Winston, Thomas Read, The Honorable Paul Currington, 
Benjamin Harrison, The Honorable John Tyler, David Patte- 



APPENDIX. 255 

son, Stephen Pankey, Jr., Joseph Mlchaux, French Strother, 
Joseph Jones, Miles King, Joseph Iladen, John Early, Thomas 
Arthurs, John Guerrant, William Sampson, Isaac Coles, George 
Carrington, Parke Goodall, John Carter Littlepage, Thomas 
Cooper, William Fleet, Thomas Roane, Holt Richeson, Benja- 
min Temple, James Gordon (of Lancaster), Stephens Thompson 
Mason, William White, Jonathan Patteson, John Logan, Henry 
Pawling, John Miller, Green Clay, Samuel Hopkins, Richard 
Kennon, Thomas Allen, Alexander Robertson, Walter Crock- 
ett, Abraham Trigg, Solomon Shepherd, William Clayton, 
Burwell Bassett, Mathew Walton, John Steele, Robert Wil- 
liams, John Wilson, Thomas Turpin, Patrick Henry, Edmund 
Ruffin, Theoderick Bland, William Grayson, Cuthbert Bullitt, 
Walker Tomlin, William McKee, Thomas Carter, Henry Dick- 
enson, James Monroe, John Dawson, George Mason, Andrew 
Buchanan, John Hartwell Cocke, John Howell Briggs, Thomas 
Edmunds, The Honorable Richard Cary, Samuel Edmison and 
James Montgomery — 85. 

And then the main question being put, that this Convention 
doth concur with the committee in the said amendments. 

It was resolved in the affirmative. 

On motion. 

Ordered, That the foregoing amendments be fairly en- 
grossed upon parchment, signed by the President of this Con- 
vention, and by him transmitted, together with the ratification 
of the Federal Constitution, to the United States in Congress 
assembled. 

On motion. 

Ordered, That a fair engrossed copy of the ratification of 
the Federal Constitution, with the subsequent amendments 
this day agreed to, signed by the President, and attested by 
the Secretary of this Convention, be transmitted by the Presi- 
dent in the name of this Convention to the Executive or 
Legislature of each State in the Union. 

Ordered, That the Secretary do cause the Journal of the 
proceedings of this Convention to be fairly entered in a well- 



256 APPENDIX. 

bound book, and after being signed by tbe President, and 
attested bj the Secretary, that he deposit the same in the 
archives of the Privy Council or Council of State. 

On motion. 

Ordered, That the Printer to this Convention do strike, 
forthwith, fifty copies of the ratification and subsequent 
amendments of the Federal Constitution, for the use of each 
county in the Commonwealth. 



APPENDIX IV. 



Extracts from Speeches of Governor Randolph and Patrick 

Henry. 

On tlie 4th June, 1788, the Preamble and Art. I. sect. 1 
and 2, being under consideration, Governor Randolph said 
{Elliot's Debates, vol. iii. pp. 48, 49) : 

"Mr. Chairman, had the most enlightened statesman, whom 
America has yet seen, foretold but a year ago, the crisis which 
has now called us together, he would have been confronted by 
the universal testimony of history ; for never was it yet known, 
that in so short a space, by the peaceable working of events, with- 
out a war or even the menace of the smallest force, a nation has 
been brought to agitate a question, an error in the issue of 
which, may blast their happiness. It is, therefore, to be feared, 
lest to this trying exigency, the best wisdom should be unequal, 
and here, (if it were allowable to l3,ment any ordinance of na- 
ture) might it be deplored, that in proportion to the magnitude 
of a subject, is the mind intemperate. Religion, the dearest 
of all interests, has too often sought proselytes by fire rather 
than by reason ; and politics, the next in rank, is too often 
nourished by passion, at the expense of the understanding. 
Pardon me, however, for expecting one exception to this ten- 
dency of mankind — from the dignity of this convention, a mu- 
tual toleration, and a persuasion that no man has a riglit to 
impose his opinion on others. Pardon me too. Sir, if I am 
particularly sanguine in my expectations from the chair — it 
well knows what is order, how to command obedience, and 
17 



258 APPENDIX. 

that political opinions may be as honest on one side as on the 
other. Before I press into the body of the argument, I must 
take the liberty of mentioning the part I have already borne 
in this great question : but let me not here be misunderstood. 
I come not to apologize to any individual within these walls, 
to the convention as a body, or even to my fellow-citizens at 
large. Having obeyed the impulse of duty, having satisfied 
my conscience, and I trust, my God, I shall appeal to no other 
tribunal ; no do I come a candidate for popularity : my man- 
ner of life has never yet betrayed such a desire. The highest 
honors and emoluments of this commonwealth, are a poor com- 
pensation for the surrender of personal independence. The 
history of England, from the revolution, and that of Virginia, 
for more than twenty years past, shew the vanity of a hope, 
that general favor should ever follow the man, who without 
partiality or prejudice, praises or disapproves the opinions of 
friends or of foes : nay, I might enlarge the field, and declare 
from the great volume of human nature itself, that to be mo- 
derate in politics, forbids an ascent to the summit of political 
fame. But, I come hither regardless of allurements, to con- 
tinue as I have begun, to repeat my earnest endeavors for a 
firm energetic government, to enforce my objections to the 
constitution, and to concur in any practical scheme of amend- 
ments ; but I never will assent to any scheme that will operate 
a dissolution of the union, or any measure which may lead to 
it. This conduct may possibly be upbraided as injurious to 
my own views ; if it be so, it is, at least, the natural oflspring 
of my judgment. I refused to sign, and if the same were to 
return, again would I refuse. Wholly to adopt or wholly to 
reject, as proposed by the convention, seemed too hard an 
alternative to the citizens of America, whose servants we were, 
and whose pretensions amply to discuss the means of their hap- 
piness were undeniable. Even if adopted under the terror of 
impending anarchy, the government must have been without 
that safest bulwark, the hearts of the people — and if rejected 
because the chance for amendments was cut ofi", the union 



APPENDIX. 259 

■would have been irredeemably lost. This seems to have been 
verified by the event in Massachusetts ; but our Assembly have 
removed these inconveniences, by propounding the constitution 
to our full and free enquiry. When I withheld my subscrip- 
tion, I had not even the glimpse of the genius of America, re- 
lative to the principles of the new constitution. Who, arguing 
from the preceding history of Virginia, could have divined that 
she was prepared for the important change ? In former times 
indeed, she transcended every colony in professions and prac- 
tices of loyalty ; but she opened a perilous war, under a 
democracy almost as pure as representation would admit : she 
supported it under a constitution which subjects all rule, au- 
thority and power, to the legislature : every attempt to alter 
it had been baffled : the increase of congressional power, had 
always excited an alarm. I therefore would not bind myself 
to uphold the new constitution, before I had tried it by the 
true touchstone ; especially too, when I foresaw, that even the 
members of the General Convention, might be instructed by the 
comments of those who were without doors. But, I had more- 
over objections to the constitution, the most material of which, 
too lengthy in detail, I have as yet barely stated to the 
public, but shall explain when we arrive at the proper points. 
Amendments were consequently my wish ; these were the 
grounds of my repugnance to subscribe, and were perfectly 
reconcileable with my unalterable resolution, to be regulated 
by the spirit of America, if after our best efforts for amend- 
ments, they could not be removed. I freely indulge those who 
may think this declaration too candid, in believing, that I 
hereby depart from the concealment belonging to the charac- 
ter of a statesman. Their censure would be more reasonable, 
were it not for an unquestionable fact, that the spirit of 
America depends upon a combination of circumstances, which 
no individual can control, and arises not from the prospect of 
advantages which may be gained by the arts of negotiation, 
but from deeper and more honest causes. 

As with me the only question has ever been, between pre- 



260 APPENDIX. 

vious and subsequent amendments, so will I express my appre- 
hensions, that the postponement of this convention, to so 
late a day, has extinguished the probability of the former 
■without inevitable ruin to the union, and the union is the 
anchor of our political salvation ; and I "will assent to the 
lopping of this limb (meaning his arm) before I assent to the 
dissolution of the union. I shall not follovf the hon. gentle- 
man (Mr. Henry) in his enquiry." 



" In the whole of this business, I have acted in the strictest 
obedience to the dictates of my conscience, in discharging 
what I conceive to be my duty to my country. I refused my 
signature, and if the same reasons operated on my mind, I 
would still refuse ; but as I think that those eight States 
which have adopted the constitution will not recede, I am a 
friend to the union." 

[As the adoption by eiglit States was admitted by his Excel- 
lency to have determined him to cast his vote in favor of 
Ratification, it becomes important to know the time when that 
event occurred. The following table,* with that view, is in- 
serted. It proves, without doubt, that the distinguished gen- 
tleman had but recently come to that resolution, and in this 
particular confirms the evidence contained in the text : 

The Constitution was adopted on the 17th September, 1787, by 
the Convention appointed in pursuance of the resolution of the Con- 
gress of the Confederation, of the 21st February, 1787, and was 
ratified by the Conventions of the several States, as follows, viz : 

By Convention of Delaware, on the 7th December, 1787. 

" " Pennsylvania, " 12th December, 1787. 

« « New Jersey " 18th December, 1787. 

" « Georgia, " 2d January, 1788. 

* From " The Constitution of the United States of America, "with as 
Alphabetical Analysis," &c. By W. Hickey. 







APPENDIX. 






261 


By 


Convention 


of Connecticut, on the 


9 th January, 


1788. 




(( 


Massachusetts, 




6th February, 


1788, 




u 


Maryland, 




28th April, 


1788. 




It 


South Carolina, 




23d May, 


1788. 




i( 


New Hampshire, 




21st June, 


1788. 




it 


Virginia, 




26th June, 


1788. 




u 


New York, 




26th July, 


1788. 




11 


North Carolina, 




21st November, 17S9. 




11 


Rhode Island, 




29th Maj, 


1790.] 



Extract from Mr. Henry's Speech in rephj to Governor 
Randolph, {Elliot's Debates, vol. iii. pp. 124-126.) 

" Now, Sir, I say, let us consider, whetlier the picture given 
€f American affairs ought to drive us from those beloved 
maxims. 

The honorable gentleman, (Governor Randolph) has said, 
that it is too late in the day for us to reject this new plan. 
That system which was once execrated by the honorable mem- 
ber, must now be adopted, let its defects be ever so glaring. 
That honorable member will not accuse me of want of candor, 
when I cast in my mind what he has given the public,* and 
compare it to what has happened since. It seems to me very 
strange and unaccountable, that that which was the object of 
his execration, should now receive his encomiums. Some- 
thing extraordinary must have operated so great a change in 
his opinion. It is too late in the day I Gentlemen must ex- 
cuse me, if they should declare again and again, that it was too 
late and I should think differently. I never can believe. Sir, 
that it is too late to save all that is precious. If it be proper, 
and independently of every external consideration, wisely 
constructed, let us receive it : but Sir, shall its adoption by 
eight States induce us to receive it, if it be replete with the 



* Alluding to his Excellency's letter on that subject to the Speaker of the 
House of Delegates. 



262 APPENDIX. 

most dangerous defects ? Tliey urge that subsequent amend- 
ments are safer than previous amendments, and that they will 
answer the same ends. At present we have our liberties and 
privileges in our own hands. Let us not relinquish them. 
Let us not adopt this system till we see them secure. There 
is some small possibility, that should we follow the conduct of 
Massachusetts, amendments might be obtained. There is a 
small possibility of amending any government; but, Sir, shall 
we abandon our most inestimable rights, and rest their security 
on a mere possibility? The gentleman fears the loss of the 
union. If eight States have ratified it unamended ; and we 
should rashly imitate their precipitate example, do we not 
thereby disunite from several other States ? Shall those who 
have risked their lives for the sake of union, be at once thrown 
out of it? If it be amended, every State will accede to it; but 
by an imprudent adoption in its defective and dangerous state, 
a schism must inevitably be the consequence : I can never, 
therefore, consent to hazard our most unalienable rights on an 
absolute uncertainty. You are told there is no peace, although 
you fondly flatter yourselves that all is peace — no peace — a 
general cry and alarm in the country — commerce, riches, and 
wealth, vanished — citizens going to seek comforts in other parts 
of the world — laws insulted — many instances of tyrannical leg- 
islation. These things, sir, are new to me. He has made the 
discovery — as to the administration of justice, I believe that 
failures in commerce, &c., cannot be attributed to it. My age 
enables me to recollect its progress under the old government. 
I can justify it by saying, that it continues in the same man- 
ner in this State, as it did under the former government. As 
to other parts of the continent, I refer that to other gentle- 
men. As to the ability of those who administer it, I believe 
they would not suffer by a comparison with those who admin- 
istered it under the royal authority. Where is the cause of 
complaint if the wealthy go away ? Is this, added to the 
other circumstances, of such enormity, and does it bring such 
danger over this Commonwealth as to warrant so important 



APPENDIX. 2G3 

and so awful a change, in so precipitate a manner ? As to 
insults offered to the laws, I know of none. In this respect, 
I believe this Commonwealth would not suffer by a comparison 
with the former government. The laws are as well executed, 
and as patiently acquiesced in, as they were under the royal 
administration. Compare the situation of the country — com- 
pare that of our citizens to what they were then, and decide 
whether persons and property are not as safe and as secure 
as they were at that time. Is there a man in this Common- 
wealth whose person can be insulted with impunity ? Cannot 
redress be had here for personal insults or injuries, as well as 
in any part of the world — as well as in those countries where 
aristocrats and monarchs triumph and reign? Is not the pro- 
tection of property in full operation here ? The contrary can- 
not with truth be charged on this Commonwealth. Those 
severe charges which are exhibited against it, appear to me 
totally groundless. On a fair investigation, we shall be found 
to be surrounded by no real dangers. We have the animating 
fortitude and persevering alacrity of republican men to carry 
us through misfortunes and calamities. It is the fortune of a 
republic to be able to withstand the stormy ocean of human 
vicissitudes. I know of no danger awaiting us. Public and 
private security are to be found here in the highest degree. 
Sir, it is the fortune of a free people not to be intimidated 
by imaginary dangers. Fear is the passion of slaves. Our 
political and natural hemisphere are now equally tranquil. 
Let us recollect the awful magnitude of the subject of our 
deliberation. Let us consider the latent consequences of an 
erroneous decision — and let not our minds be led away by 
unfair misrepresentations and uncandid suggestions. There 
have been many instances of uncommon lenity and temper- 
ance used in the exercise of power in this Commonwealth. I 
could call your recollection to many that happened during the 
war and since — but every gentleman here must be apprised 
of them." 



264 APPENDIX. 

Extract from Gov. Randolph's Rejoinder, {Elliott's Delates, 
vol. iii. pp. 157-8.) 

" Having consumed heretofore so much of your time, I did 
not intend to trouble you again so soon. But I now call on 
this committee, by "way of right, to permit me to answer some 
severe charges against the friends of the new constitution. 
It is a right I am entitled to, and shall have. I have spoken 
twice in this committee. I have shown the principles which 
actuated the General Convention, and attempted to prove, 
that after the ratification of the proposed system by so many 
States, the preservation of the union depended on its adoption 
by us. I find myself attacked, in the most illiberal manner, 
by the honorable gentleman, (Mr. Henry.) I disdain his 
aspersions, and his insinuations. His asperity is warranted 
by no principle of parliamentary decency, nor compatible with 
the least shadow of friendship ; and if our friendship must 
full — let it fall, like Lucifer, never to rise to again ! Let 
him remember that it is not to answer him, but to satisfy this 
respectable audience, that I now get up. He has accused me 
of inconsistency in this very respectable assembly. Sir, if I 
do not stand on the bottom of integrity and pure love for 
Virginia, as much as those who can be most clamorous, I wish 
to resign my existence. Consistency consists in actions, and 
not in empty, specious words. Ever since the first entrance 
into that federal business, I have been invariably governed by 
an invincible attachment to the happiness of the people of 
America. Federal measures had been before that time re- 
pudiated. The augmentation of congressional powers was 
dreaded. The imbecility of the Confederation was proved 
and acknowledged. When I had the honor of being deputed 
to the Federal Convention to revise the existing system, I 
was impressed with the necessity of a more energetic govern- 
ment, and thoroughly persuaded that the salvation of the 
people of America depended on an intimate and firm union. 



APPENDIX. 265 

The honorable gentleman there can say, that, when I went 
thither, no man was a stronger friend to such an union than 
myself. I informed you why I refused- to sign. 

" I understand not him who wishes to give a full scope to 
licentiousness and dissipation, who would advise me to reject 
the proposed plan, and plunge us into anarchy. 

[Here his Excellency Governor Randolph read the conclusion of his public 
letter, (wherein he says, that notwithstanding his objections to the constitu- 
tion, he would adopt it rather than lose the Union,) and proceeded to prove 
the consistency of his present opinion with his former conduct, when Sir. 
Henry arose, and declared that he had no personal intention of offending any 
one — that he did his duty — but that he did not mean to wound the feelings 
of any gentleman — that he was sorry, if he offended th3 honorable gentle- 
man without intending it — and that every gentleman had a right to maintain 
his opinion. His Excellency then said, that he was relieved by what the 
honorable gentleman said — that were it not for the concession of the gentle- 
man, he would have made some men's hair stand on end by the disclosures 
of certain facts, Mr. Henry then requested, that if he had any thing to say 
against him to disclose it. His Excellency then continued — That, as there 
were some gentlemen there who might not be satisfied by the recantation of 
the honorable gentleman without being informed, he should give them some 
information on the subject. That his ambition had ever been to promote the 
union — that he was no more attached to it now than he always had been — 
and that he could, in some degree, prove it by the paper which he held in his 
hand, which was his public letter. He then read a considerable part of his 
letter, wherein he expressed his friendship to the union. He then informed 
the committee, that on the day of election of delegates to the convention for 
the county of Henrico, it being incumbent upon him to give his opinion, he 
told the respectable freeholders of that county his sentiments: that he wished 
not to become a member of that convention — that he had not attempted to 
create a belief that he would vote against the constitution — that he did 
really unfold to them his actual opinion, which was perfectly reconcileable 
with the suffrage he was going to give in favor of the constitution. He then 
read part of a letter which he had written to his constituents on the subject, 
which was expressive of sentiments amicable to an union with the other 
States. He then threw down the letter on the clerk's table, and declared 
that it might lie there for the insj^ec(io7i of (he curious and malicious ! ] 

" He then proceeded thus — I am asked, why I have thought 
proper to patronize this government ? Nat because I am one 
of those illumined, but because the felicity of my country 
requires it. The highest honors have no allurements to charm 
me. If he be as little attached to public places as I am, he 



V 



266 APPENDIX. cC^^j^ Cc3^ 

must be free from ambition. It is true that I am now in an 
elevated situation ; but I consider it as a far less happy or 
eligible situation than that of an inconsiderable land-holder. 
Give me peace — I ask no more. I ask no honor or gratifica- 
tion. Give me public peace, and I will carve the rest for 
myself. The happiness of my country is my first wish. I 
think it necessary for that happiness, that this constitution 
be now adopted; for, in spite of the representation of the 
honorable gentleman, I see a storm growling over Virginia. 
No man has more respect for Virginia, or a greater aifection 
for her citizens, than I have ; but I cannot flatter you with a 
kinder or mora agreeable representation, while we are sur- 
rounded by so many dangers, and when there is so much 
rancor in the hearts of your citizens." 






